There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers
by Chibi Cheesecake
Summary: Roxas and Naminé are separated from Sora and Kairi as part of a dark plot to destroy all worlds. The four, along with Riku, must work together to save it. But one question remains: what sort of destiny can there be for someone who wasn't meant to exist?
1. Shadows

**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**

_Chapter 1: Shadows _

_Notes: Hello and welcome! This is my first multi-chapter endeavor in, well, a really long time. As in, years. As such, I'm equal parts excited and nervous about this story. So, I'd really love any feedback you guys have for me as I get back into the groove of writing fic!_

_This story is somewhat connected to a recent oneshot of mine, __Through the Glass__, which you don't necessarily need to read to understand this, but it does establish my starting point for Sora and Roxas' relationship in this story and might be interesting in that way. _

_Thanks to everybody who helped me with my anal-retentive and extensive outlining of this fic, including my little sister, my mother, and my good friend LuckyLadybug (since it was a story of hers that kinda gave me the original plunnie for this). Also, thanks to the lovely folks at the KH Wiki for providing a one-stop refresher course on KH canon. And thanks to Edwin Markham for writing the poem my title comes from. :P _

* * *

Sora was really, really not looking to the math exam he had the next day. If only he'd known, as he buckled down to get a little more studying in before bed, that in a few hours algebra would be the least of his problems.

He was having a strange dream – he was running through town, being chased by a bunch of numbers and what could only be described as the quadratic formula with teeth. But the mathematical menaces were suddenly joined by creatures that slithered along the sidewalk, almost like Shadow Heartless, but with less of a definite form.

The numbers and the shadow creatures sprang towards Sora, who attempted to summon his Keyblade, but it wouldn't come. As his assailants leapt toward him, he felt a massive energy pass through his body, knocking the wind out of him. In his dream, he fell backwards and kept falling for a long, long time.

And Sora flung himself upright, breathing heavily in his dark room. His stiff neck shouted in protest, and the clock on his desk proclaimed it was nearly two in the morning. Sora groaned: he'd fallen asleep at his desk, studying for that stupid test. Okay, he'd just get in his pajamas and get into bed, it had only been a dream, and it was just one test –

There was a soft groan from behind him. Sora whirled around. Roxas was half-sprawled on Sora's bedroom floor.

Sora jumped up and crouched next to Roxas, his eyes wide. He had spoken to Roxas a few times in the months since his adventure had ended and he'd come home, but every time it had been in Sora's subconscious, in his dreams. "A-Am I still asleep?"

"I dunno, are you?" Roxas grumped, rubbing his head. It felt like he'd been dropped out of the sky into Sora's bedroom.

"I don't think so! But if I'm awake, and you're..." Sora experimentally poked Roxas in the shoulder. He was just as solid as anything else in the room. "H-How come you're not...in me!?"

"Don't look at me," Roxas grumbled, sitting up. "I didn't do anything."

Before Sora could answer, there was a flash of light, and suddenly King Mickey was standing in Sora's bedroom as well.

"Oops," he said, as the two boys gaped at him in disbelief. "Guess I didn't make it in time to warn you."

"Warn us about what?! What is going on here?" Roxas burst out finally.

But before Mickey could answer, there was a knock at the door. "Sora?"

Sora gave the other two a panicked look. "It's my mom!" he hissed, scrambling to his feet. He ushered Mickey and Roxas into his closet, shutting them in before they could protest, and then dashed across the room and threw open his bedroom door.

His mother stood in the hallway in her nightgown, peering at him through sleepy eyes. "Sora?" she yawned. "I thought I heard voices. And what are you still doing in your clothes?"

"W-well, I guess I fell asleep studying for that math test, and I must have been yelling formulas in my sleep, or something. But everything's fine now!" Sora added in a rush. "You just go back to sleep, Mom. Sorry I woke you up, I'll make it up to you, promise!"

"Okay," she answered with a yawn and a shrug. She was much too tired to deal with whatever it was he was clearly hiding. She'd worry about it tomorrow.

As soon as his mother was safely back in her room, Sora shut his door and hurriedly tip-toed to his closet, opening the door.

"Sorry about that," he whispered in response to the withering look Roxas gave him upon being released. "But I really don't want to try and explain you guys to my parents."

"Oh, right!" Mickey said. Summoning his Keyblade, he pointed it at Sora's bedroom door. Something gel-like shot out the tip of it and attached itself to Sora's door, spreading out and forming a clear barrier of sorts. "There we go," Mickey said. "Soundproof."

"Then tell us what's going on," Roxas repeated, arms folded.

Mickey looked him up and down. He'd heard a lot about Sora's Nobody, of course, but he'd never seen him in person before. Roxas was watching him with distrust in his blue eyes, but then Mickey supposed if the things that had been done to Roxas had been done to him, he'd be a little wary of people he didn't know as well.

"Well, to be honest, I don't know all of what's happening, and it was hard enough to get this far. I don't think I've got much time," Mickey began urgently.

"There's this old prophecy at Disney Castle...Aw, shoot, how does it go...?" He scratched his chin. "Let's see, 'when darkness overtakes all shadows, yada yada, two of the light borne out of darkness join the three connected by one heart to restore the balance of light and dark to the world of shadows'. Or something like that. You fellas get the idea."

"Nice prophecy and all, but what's that have to do with us?" Sora asked.

"Aw, c'mon, it's not that hard."

Roxas frowned. "Two of the light borne out of darkness?" he repeated. "Wait, that can't be about – "

"You and Naminé? Bingo!"

Sora gaped. "Then does that mean Naminé's separated from Kairi, too? And the other three in this prophecy thing – is that me, Kairi, and Riku?"

"Yep, and yep."

"That is _so cool_!" Sora exclaimed. "We've got our own prophecy and everything!"

Roxas didn't share Sora's enthusiasm. "So...what, is it like before, where we're separate but not whole?"

"Hm...try summoning your Keyblade, Roxas," was the king's reply.

Roxas complied, and found he was holding a Keyblade he'd never seen before. It was slender, and felt light and responsive in his grip. The handle was round, and a pale blue color that was somehow familiar to Roxas, but he couldn't quite place where he'd seen it before.

The shaft was made of two branches of metallic silver, much like Oathkeeper, and as Roxas held it up, the soft glow of Sora's desk lamp illuminated the head, which, like Oathkeeper, was made of five points. The colors were quite different, though: a soft blend of purple, faded red, and burnt orange. Like a sunset, Roxas thought idly.

The chain was made up of a series of interlinked infinity symbols, culminating in a charm the Nobody symbol. So he wouldn't forget where he'd come from, Roxas guessed.

"Whoa," Sora said, ogling the new Keyblade. "Wasn't expecting that."

"Me either," Roxas said, releasing the Keyblade and watching it vanish in a small burst of light. "I thought it would be Oathkeeper or Oblivion."

"Ah, but that proves it, doesn't it?" Mickey said excitedly. "Those Keychains were formed from Sora's heart and his memories of his friends. That new Keychain you have is formed from your own heart and memories, I'm sure of it."

"My...heart?" Roxas repeated in disbelief. "I have a heart?"

"Yep!" Mickey answered. "Looks my suspicion was right. You're your own person now. With a heart and everything. It's the same with Naminé."

Roxas didn't answer, couldn't come up with one. He sunk onto Sora's bed. It suddenly hit him – the handle of that new Keyblade was the exact color of sea-salt ice cream.

"How!?" Sora exclaimed. "Did you do this?" he asked the King.

Mickey shook his head vehemently. "No way! I don't have the power to do that."

"Then, who does?" Sora asked.

"You guys know how there's a Realm of Darkness and a Realm of Light, right?" When Sora and Roxas both nodded, he went on. "In between the two, there's the Domain of Shadows. It's been ruled over by a powerful enchantress since, well, since the beginning of the worlds! She's the one who's separated you guys."

"That was awfully nice of her," Sora blinked.

"I wish it was that simple," Mickey frowned. "She's not allowed to use her power to do things like that. Remember, in the prophecy? 'When darkness overtakes all shadows'. I think something dark and evil – I don't know what yet – has taken over the Domain of Shadows and its enchantress, and that's bad news for all of us."

"Why's that?" Sora asked.

"A shadow's a pretty powerful thing. They can travel across any surface, even over water, and if you control a person's shadow, you can control them."

"So, let me get this straight," Sora began, folding his arms. "There's some bad guy who's controlling this shadow enchantress lady, and he, using her powers, went and separated Roxas and Naminé from me and Kairi according to some old prophecy."

"That's about right, yep."

"That doesn't make any sense," Roxas spoke up finally, from Sora's bed. "Doesn't the prophecy say we'll 'restore the balance' or whatever?"

"Yeah, but there's more to it than that: the prophecy also says something like, um, gosh..." Mickey looked skyward, trying to remember. "Something like, 'a star cannot shine without all five points. Should one point be lost, the star will destroy itself and all light in the world will go out.' So, in other words, the prophecy also says that if one of you is destroyed, the rest destroy each other and the world."

"Cheery," Roxas muttered.

"Hey, come on!" Sora exclaimed, rounding on him. "What's with you? This is awesome. We get to kick butt together, and Naminé, too..."

"But what about when this is all over?" Roxas asked, turning to Mickey. "Say we succeed and save the worlds. What happens to me and Naminé after that? Are they just done with us, and we'll fade again?"

Mickey sighed. "It's a good question, Roxas, and I'm sorry I don't know the answer."

"...Sorry I'm not jumping for joy," Roxas said to Sora.

Sora bit his lip. "W-well, we'll just worry about that when it comes. What do you need us to do now?" he asked, turning to Mickey.

"Glad you asked, Sora," Mickey began. "First thing in the morning, I need you too to go get Riku, Kairi, and Naminé. The five of you need to head to Yen Sid's tower. I'll set up a portal for you near Kairi's house. Hopefully I'll have more answers for you by then. But – and this is really important – if things get too crazy, then the two of you need to get out of Destiny Islands. Head to Yen Sid's on your own, and the others will meet you there. I'll be giving Riku the same instructions tonight. Got all that?"

The two nodded. "But, if it's gonna be so dangerous, why wait till morning? Why can't we just go now?" Sora asked.

"Good question," Mickey said, moving toward the window. He gestured Sora and Roxas over, and pulled back the curtain.

They peered out into the darkness. "Either I'm hallucinating, or the ground is...moving," Roxas said finally.

"Yep. Whoever's behind all this has sent out a bunch of shadow creatures to find you guys.

"No way," Sora gasped, staring at the street behind his house. He could see them now – shadow monsters like in his dream, slithering along the ground, crawling over each other and everything, sticking their heads into the air, sniffing. "All of those are after us?"

"Yep," Mickey said grimly. "They're mostly blind, in the daytime at least, but they've got a sharp sense of smell and they see pretty well in the dark. And we definitely don't need to go outside tonight and make things easier for them." He turned to Sora and Roxas, his expression serious. "Now, this is really, really important. I need you two to promise me that no matter what happens, you'll stick together, okay? Watch each other's backs."

Sora and Roxas looked at each other. They could do that, right? Even if they didn't know each other that well, they were at least okay with each other, and Sora could certainly understand Roxas' unease about whatever would happen after this was all over.

"We promise," Sora said.

"One more thing," Roxas began.

Mickey nodded for Roxas to continue, but before the blond could say anything, there was a popping sound, and in a flash of light, the king was gone.

"W-where'd he go!?" Sora exclaimed.

Roxas swallowed. "He said it was hard to get here... Maybe whatever was trying to keep him out, found him."

Sora looked over at Roxas, chewing his lip. "What were you gonna ask him, or do I not wanna know?"

Roxas rubbed the back of his neck. "I was gonna ask how we're supposed to get to Yen Sid if we can't get the others or make it to this portal thing."

"Oh man," Sora groaned. It was going to be a long few hours, until the sun came up.

* * *

But somehow the time did pass. Sora even managed to sleep a little bit, dozing in and out among his trepidation at what the morning might bring. He awoke a little past six in the morning to the sound of his parents downstairs making coffee. Sora sat bolt upright, ready to spring out the door right then. He hadn't bothered changing out of his clothes after Mickey was so abruptly booted from Sora's room.

Roxas was sitting at Sora's desk, resting his chin on his fist. "D'you feel that?" he asked, seeing that Sora was awake.

"Y-yeah. Feels like something's coming."

"Or like something's already here.

Sora was already throwing his shoes on. "Can you make it out the window?" he asked Roxas, nodding towards the tree outside his window.

Roxas gave a single nod, heading for the window. "Meet you outside."

Sora shouldered his backpack, which he'd packed in the middle of the night with a few potions and a few of his best and favorite Keychains. He hurried downstairs, both of his parents surprised to see him up so early.

And Sora was equally surprised to see his father there. "Dad," Sora blinked. "You're still here." His father was a fisherman who would often be gone for long stretches of time; he'd been set to sail early that morning.

His father nodded. "Looks like the weather report was all wrong. They called for clear skies today, but..." He nodded towards the kitchen window, and it was only then that Sora noticed the dark storm clouds brewing outside. He swallowed.

"Well, I'm off," he said, faking nonchalance.

"This early?" his mother asked, peering at him over her coffee mug.

"Yeah," Sora answered, shifting anxiously from one foot to the other. Roxas was probably waiting for him, and they more they dawdled here, the harder it might be to get to the others... "Riku and Kairi and I were gonna meet up and compare notes for that math test one more time."

"Alright," his mother said doubtfully. "Of course we want you to do well in school, but...it is just one test. Don't worry about it too much. I'm sure you'll do fine, anyway."

Sora looked at the two of them, his father reading the newspaper, coffee cup in one hand. His mother was sipping her coffee, standing by the sink, looking out the kitchen window. Sora swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. Mickey sure seemed to think he was in an awful lot of danger, but what about Destiny Islands itself? Would their families be alright?

Sora put his hand on the doorknob. "Be careful today," he said over his shoulder. "Y'know, 'cause it looks kind of bad out there."

"You too, son," he heard his father say.

Sora took a deep breath and opened the front door, unsure as to what was waiting for him on the other side.

Roxas had been waiting along the side of the house, beneath Sora's window. "What took you so long?" he asked, falling into stride alongside Sora.

"My parents," Sora mumbled. "I'm worried about them."

Roxas didn't answer. He'd never had parents to worry about, or to worry about him, except for the mother that DiZ had programmed into the virtual Twilight Town, and that didn't count. He could say something like, "Don't worry, they'll be fine," but he had never been one for those sorts of hollow words. So they continued on in silence.

They walked quickly through town, and they were halfway to Riku's house when Sora suddenly let out a panicked yell. "I-I can't move!" he yelled as Roxas turned to look.

Sora was frozen mid-stride, and Roxas only had to look at the ground to see why: there was Sora's shadow, as still as Sora himself, but there was a second shadow joined with Sora's, and this one was twitching and slithering on the ground.

Roxas summoned his Keyblade and blindly slashed at the air above the strange, moving shadow. With an inhuman cry, one of the shadow creatures materialized. Close up, they definitely looked like a cousin of the Shadow Heartless, but without the yellow eyes and somewhat smaller. The blow from Roxas' Keyblade was enough to destroy it, and disappeared into the air.

Sora stumbled out of his frozen position, summoning his own Keyblade as he righted himself. "So they can freeze you with your shadow!?"

"That's gonna be really annoying," Roxas muttered. And it was then that they realized the shadow of every building, tree, and lamppost was pointed directly at the two, and lengthening straight toward them. It was eerie, like being inside a series of time-lapse photographs.

"Now what?" Roxas asked. The clouds were getting darker, and the wind was blowing faster. What was it the king had said last night? These shadow monsters worked better in the dark?

"We make a run for it." But still, Sora was careful not to move right then. If they were going to make a break for it, they were going to have to time it just right if they had any chance of reaching Riku, Kairi, Naminé, _and_ making it to this portal that was supposed to be by Kairi's house.

"Sounds like as good a plan as any," Roxas answered. They glanced at each other, blue meeting blue, and then they were off, tearing down the street.

If they had looked back, they would have seen every shadow seemingly explode and fracture into hundreds of pieces, gliding along the street, the sides of the buildings, and rustling through the trees. The shadows were fast, very fast, and Sora and Roxas' attempt to escape proved fruitless. They were forced to skid to a stop, as shadow creatures surrounded them on all sides, bobbing halfway concealed on the surface of the street and halfway above it, so that Sora and Roxas were surrounded by a dark mass of heads and tentacle-like fingers. It was like a group of sharks circling a meal.

Sora and Roxas stood back to back in the middle of it all, Keyblades both held at the ready. "Not good," Sora said, scanning the area for a weak spot, anything to help them get away.

"I don't think we're gonna make it to the others," Roxas began carefully.

"What!? But we've got to at least try!" Sora protested.

"We did try, and now we're surrounded!" Roxas shot back.

Sora didn't get a chance to answer, because just then the shadows surged towards them, and it was all they could do to keep the creatures at bay.

And as he slashed, dodged, and lunged, Roxas realized they had a strategy: they were trying to separate him and Sora. "We need to get out of here now!"

"Yeah? How!?" Sora shouted back, slashing at one creature, then whirling to take care of one reaching up to brush its long fingers on his legs.

Roxas didn't answer. He had one idea, one possible way he could get them out of there, but he was afraid to try. There were frightening implications, should the method actually work. But the shadows were getting bolder, as one sprang fully out of hiding on the street's surface and seized Roxas' arm. He flung it off with some difficulty and dispatched it quickly, and in the same motion reached out with his other hand. It'd been a while since he'd done this... Visualize where he wanted to go: Twilight Town, yes, that was easy enough to conjure up.

The sound of the power of darkness tunneling from one world to another was unmistakable. Roxas stared in shock for a moment as a Corridor of Darkness bubbled up from the ground in front of him, tendrils of darkness moving like smoke in the open air.

He'd been able to open a Corridor of Darkness, not as a Nobody, but as a regular human? What did that mean?

But there was no time to ponder that. "Sora, come on!" Roxas shouted, moving closer to the portal, still having to fight shadows left and right.

Sora, occupied in his own battles, spared a brief glance in Roxas' direction. "You want to go through _that_!?" he shouted, upon seeing the Corridor.

"Either that, or be eaten alive by these things!" Roxas shot back. "Sora, _let's go!_"

Sora didn't like the situation at all. Still fighting through shadows, he made his way toward the portal, where Roxas was waiting. Yet, Sora hesitated, fear seizing him. Were Riku, Kairi, and Naminé faring any better than he and Roxas were? Had the King been able to warn Riku, like he said he would? And what about their families?

But then Roxas grabbed his wrist, stepping into the portal and yanking Sora with him. And the last thing Sora saw of Destiny Islands, as the darkness closed in on him, were hundreds of shadow creatures, lurching toward him in one black mass, in one final attempt to reach their prey as the portal shut them out.


	2. Darkness Falling

**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brother**

_Chapter Two: Darkness Falling _

_Notes: Just a little something I'd like to clear up before I get any farther – the day after I posted chapter one of this story, my winter break ended and I went back to college. That means that, unfortunately, all that lovely time I had to write flew right out the window, between classes, homework, and (pretending to have a) social life. I'm going to try and update once a week, though, usually on the weekends. _

_Anyway, thanks to LuckyLadybug for plot help on this chapter, and thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, story alert-ed, or otherwise paid attention to this fic! _

* * *

The darkness seemed to stretch on forever, forming a tunnel around them. It wasn't all black; shades of dark purples and blues waxed and waned in the blackness. Sora had traveled through a few of these corridors before, but it didn't make it any less unsettling. It was eerily quiet, especially when compared to the sounds of battle from just a moment ago. Now all he could hear was his own blood thumping in his ears.

Roxas was already walking away, down the tunnel. "C'mon," he said. "This should take us to Yen Sid."

"Wait," Sora said slowly, still catching his breath. "You mean you opened this?"

"Yeah," Roxas answered, pausing to throw Sora a look over his shoulder. "I dunno how, I just...did." He turned and kept walking.

Sora just stared. His hands clenched into fists, and his stomach tied itself into knots. So Roxas had just figured a way out and taken it?! What about the others?!

Adrenaline from the fight still coursing through his veins, he shouted, "What did you do that for!?"

Roxas stopped walking. He turned back, to see Sora staring at him with hard, angry eyes. "What are you talking about?" he asked slowly.

"I mean opening this portal thing and dragging us in here!" Sora cried. "We were supposed to go find the others!"

"You're still on about that?" Roxas asked, eyes narrowing.

"Yeah, I am! In case you're forgetting, the King told us to find them!"

"And he also told us to get out of there if things got out of hand!" Roxas shot back.

"We could've kept fighting! I fought a thousand Heartless once!"

"Good for you," Roxas said dryly, beginning to turn away again.

"At least I actually care about my friends, when all you care about is yourself!" Sora shot back. At Roxas' shocked look, Sora pressed on. "I mean, all you ever do is complain about what's happened to you, instead of trying to move on from it!"

"Hey, I never _asked_ for any of this, okay?!" Roxas snapped. "You're the one who – you know what, forget it. The stupid prophecy can just go find someone else. I'm going to find some answers. You want to go back and get killed or something, fine by me."

"Fine!" Sora turned back to face the end of the tunnel, examining it for some way back out to Destiny Islands. Something in the back of his mind wasn't sure this was a good idea, but there was far too much frustration and adrenaline in him now for that.

Roxas turned on his heel, hurrying away at first, but slowing quickly.

"_I need you two to promise me that no matter what happens, you'll stick together, okay?"_

Roxas sighed. Stick together with Sora for now and...what? Just fade away again once he'd fulfilled whatever purpose the universe had him in mind for? But then there was the other possibility, wasn't there?

What if he _didn't _fade away at the end of all this?

It was a complicated question, and Roxas had just begun to consider it when he heard Sora gave a panicked cry, and there was a thump. Roxas turned back to see Sora on the ground, darkness snaking up his leg. "Damn it," Roxas muttered under his breath, hurrying over to Sora.

"W-what did you do!?" Sora exclaimed.

"Nothing!" Roxas bit out, but he forced himself not to get irritated again. "Sora, you need to calm down."

"Calm down!?" Sora repeated. "I barely have any idea what's happening, and my home, my friends, and my family are probably all in trouble and I can't do anything about it, and you want me to calm down!?" There was a note of hysteria in his voice, and Roxas felt a pang of sympathy. How unfamiliar, to be able to say unhesitatingly that he "felt" something, and not immediately question it.

Sora cried out again, as more of the dark material seemed to leap out of the floor and attach itself to Sora's arm. Roxas grabbed Sora by the shoulders. "Listen to me. This Corridor of Darkness? It's basically like walking through a giant Heartless. I know Riku, Kairi, and Naminé might be in danger. But if they are, then we need to go in with a plan. And besides, you're not going to help anybody if you get turned into a Heartless."

Sora just stared, Roxas' grip firm on his shoulders. He had finally referred to Riku, Kairi, and Naminé by their names, and not just as "the others". Sora took a shaky breath, the darkness slowly disentangling itself from his arms and legs.

Roxas nodded in approval. "You okay?" he asked.

"I-I think so," was Sora's unsteady reply. "How come that didn't happen to you?"

Roxas straightened up, looking down the corridor. "We always used these things to travel between worlds in the Organization. I guess I'm...immune to it, or something."

But Sora was only half-listening, chewing his lip and considering their options. He didn't really like to admit it, but Roxas was right. Going back to Destiny Islands was a bad idea. "I guess we should go," Sora said, in a small voice. "To Yen Sid's, I mean." Hopefully he would have some answers. It was difficult to fight a foe they knew so little about.

Roxas nodded slowly, turning and offering Sora a hand. Sora accepted, pulling himself up on wobbly feet. He spared one more look in the direction they had come from, and the two pressed on.

They walked along in a somewhat uneasy silence for a few moments.

"...I'm sorry," Roxas sighed finally. "I know Riku and Kairi are important to you. And Naminé's my friend too. I guess I just keep thinking about whatever's going to happen after."

"I know," Sora piped up, the words coming out in a rush of relief that Roxas had broken the silence. "I mean, if I were you, I'd be thinking about it too." He paused. "I don't really think you're selfish, Roxas. I'm sorry I said that."

At this, Roxas turned to look at Sora. Their eyes met for a moment, and Roxas nodded. "Don't worry about it," he said.

They continued on, the silence between them much more companionable now.

Sora folded his arms behind his head. "Man," he said suddenly. "What _would_ happen if I got turned into a Heartless now? Would there be one Heartless Sora and two Roxases running around?"

Roxas just blinked at him. "How do you even come up with this stuff...?"

"Hey, it's a good question!"

They continued through the corridor for a few more moments. For Sora, anxious to find some answers and his friends, it seemed much longer than that.

"How much lon – " he began, but just then the darkness surrounding them seemed to lift, as though someone was raising the curtain and they were on stage. Though, their role in this performance remained to be seen.

Sora and Roxas stepped outside the portal, and were immediately aware that something had gone wrong.

"I thought you said this would take us to Yen Sid..."

"It was supposed to," Roxas answered helplessly. Because they certainly had not ended up at Yen Sid's tower, or even in Twilight Town. Wherever they were, it was dark, as though it were nighttime, yet it felt like a very unnatural darkness, and the sky was devoid of any stars or the moon.

"There might be more of those shadow things around," Sora said, summoning his Keyblade. A brief flash of light out of the corner of his eye told him Roxas had done the same.

"Any idea where we are, if we aren't in Twilight Town?" Roxas asked, coming to stand beside Sora. He was expecting that Sora wouldn't have any more of an idea than Roxas did, but Sora didn't answer right away, scanning the area as his eyes adjusted to the dark.

"I dunno," Sora frowned. "Feels like I've been here before."

Roxas blinked. "It...does?"

"Let's look around," Sora said distractedly, still holding his Keyblade and walking forward. He couldn't put his finger on how, but he was sure he knew this place... If it was brighter, it'd be easier to see. Why was it so dark here? And shouldn't the shadow creatures be all over them if it was this dark?

The jagged, looming shapes they'd first seen upon entering this strange place became ruined buildings as their eyes adjusted to the dark. Sora ran his fingers along broken stone, rotting wood, and rusted piping bolted to the walls still standing.

"Why all the exposed pipes?" Roxas asked. "Seems weird."

Sora didn't answer, as he came upon a large, empty area. Sora squatted on the ground, tracing along the cracks in the concrete ground. "I don't think there were any buildings in this part to begin with."

"Yeah," Roxas nodded. "It looks like it used to be a town square, or something."

And suddenly Sora was on his feet again, gazing around the remains of the buildings that lined the open area. His eyes widened as he imagined what the buildings would have looked like intact, in the sunlight, and a horrible, sickening realization swept over him. Sora dashed over to the wreckage of one of the wooden buildings. Half-buried among the wreckage was a large wooden sign, and though it was faded and damaged, Sora could still make out the cartoonish drawings of a shield and sword, drawings made by Donald's nephew...

"I know where we are!" Sora exclaimed, though it made his heart twist to say it. "T-this is Radiant Garden!"

"What!? Are you sure?" Roxas gaped.

Sora didn't answer, instead turning and running through the darkness. Now that he'd realized where they were, it seemed so obvious. This was the marketplace, and just there had once been the item shop, and here were the stairs...

He kept running, though he slipped in the darkness on the broken and worn stairs. Sora scrambled to his feet, ignoring his bleeding knee and Roxas shouting after him.

Panic gripped Sora's heart as he entered the Borough. He skidded to a stop before a house he knew well, or at least what used to be a house he knew well. Now it was merely a pile of rubble, rotting wood planks, bits of metal piping. A few wooden stairs still stood, and pieces of the roof were everywhere.

Roxas caught up to Sora, finding the other standing frozen in front of the wreckage of the building. "Sora," he began, winded. "What-?"

"This was Merlin's house," Sora said, his voice quavering slightly. He turned to Roxas. "W-What happened here?"

Roxas had never met most of Sora's friends, but he knew of them from Sora's memories. More people unaccounted for. "I dunno," he said, grabbing Sora's shoulder and giving him a little shake. "But we'll figure it out."

He moved closer to the wreckage of the house, carefully picking over the boards. "There's got to be a clue here."

Sora nodded slowly, giving himself a mental shake. Freaking out wasn't going to help anything. He hurried forward as well, searching through the rubble for something – anything.

As he dug through the wooden boards and bits of stone, Sora realized a good deal of Merlin's books had survived, to varying degrees. A few were missing most of their pages, the covers of some others were in tatters. Some of the much older books practically disintegrated when Sora picked them up. But there was one, half-buried among all the others, that looked to be newer and in a much better condition than the others. It was much thinner than the other volumes, bound in leather, and as Sora flipped through it, he realized it was handwritten.

Frowning, Sora flipped to the front. "Property of Aerith Gainsborough", read the inside cover. His eyes widened.

"H-Hey, I think I found something!" Sora called. Roxas hurried over, greatly hindered by the state of the house.

"What is it?" he asked, crouching next to Sora.

"It's, uh...my friend Aerith's diary," Sora said, holding it up with one hand and rubbing the back of his neck with the other. He'd been so excited to find a clue, but the full realization of what he'd found hit him. "...I feel kinda weird going through this," he frowned.

A look of similar discomfort passed over Roxas' face. "Um...I don't think she'd mind too much, under the circumstances."

"Yeah," Sora grimaced, awkwardly flipping to the end of the diary and backtracking through the blank pages, trying to find the last entry. "I'll just look at the end and see if there's anything about what happened."

Finally, he found the last entry written in the journal. Sora and Roxas leaned over the diary, squinting to make out the words in the dim light. The writing was scrunched together in some places, sprawled out in others, as though the entry had been written in a great hurry.

"_Everyone's very tense. More and more of those shadows are popping up around town. Yuffie keeps saying not to worry, that we'll make it out like last time. But Merlin says this is one of the last worlds showing any signs of life. So there's really nowhere to run. I think this might be it." _

Sora's blood ran cold, horrible images of what must have happened to all of his friends here flashing through his mind, shutting out all other thoughts. Had any of them gotten out?

But Roxas grabbed his arm. "Look," he said, pointing at the journal. "It's dated three months from now."

The words drew Sora out of his stupor. Roxas was right. This entry...hadn't been written yet.

Sora turned to Roxas, his jaw hanging open. "Are we in the future!?"

Roxas nodded slowly. "Kinda looks that way. Here, see if you can figure out how and when this starts."

Sora gingerly began to flip backwards in the journal, still worried about violating future-Aerith's privacy. Roxas squinted at the pages, suddenly reaching out to point at one of the pages. "Wait, what's that?" he said.

Sora stopped, looking at the page in question.

"_Something strange today," _it said. _"Tifa and I were out around five o'clock this evening, but for some reason our shadows were really short, like they are at midday. Merlin seemed kind of worried about it, but I think he might have been overreacting. Stranger things have happened." _

The rest of the entry talked about what she and Tifa had done that day. Roxas peered at the date. "That's a...week from now, right?"

"Yeah," Sora frowned. He flipped ahead to the next page. The entry was very short, and dated over a week after the previous one.

"_Terrible news today. Merlin heard from King Mickey that something's happened to Sora's world. It's gone all dark, and there aren't any signs of life on it at all. They say it wasn't the Heartless. Nobody knows if Sora and his friends are all right. We're all so worried." _

Sora took a shaky breath.

"It hasn't happened yet," Roxas said quickly.

"I know," Sora answered, biting his lip. "But still..."

According to the next entry, they had learned from King Mickey that Destiny Islands had been destroyed by shadow creatures, and that he believed Sora and his friends had gotten out in time. But the following entry was dated two weeks later, and it was strange indeed.

"_Sora and his friends were here yesterday. I remember his friend Kairi, and we've all heard so much about his friend Riku, but none of us knew the other two, Roxas and the other girl. I can't quite remember her name, something that started with an 'N'. They're going to try and stop whoever it is behind these weird shadow attacks, and they wanted to see if Merlin knew anything. _

_Sora seemed so different. It was very tense and strange between the five of them. I'm not sure if they all get along, especially with the two I'd never seen before. I know they've been through an awful shock, losing their world, but Leon and Yuffie and I were never quite like that, even when things for us were at their worst. They may be alive, but I'm still worried." _

Roxas sat back on his heels. Even in the darkness, he could see Sora's confused expression, mirroring his own. "That seems kind of weird," Roxas frowned.

"She's making it sound like we can't stand you and Naminé or something," Sora said, turning to the boy that had been his Nobody yesterday. "I mean, we get along okay, right?"

"Right..."

They focused their attention back on the diary, even more puzzled than before. The following entry was dated another two weeks after the previous one, and it was the most disturbing of all.

"_I don't want to write this down. It might help make sense of everything, but at the same time I don't think it will. I've been trying to make sense of things all day. All of us have. _

_Sora's gone. His friends too. Merlin heard it from the King. No one is exactly sure what happened. But Merlin said it looks as though the other boy Roxas and Sora's friend Riku didn't get along, and Sora sided with Riku. Somehow, because they were fighting, the two girls were killed. It sounds as though after that, the other three separated, and they were defeated as well while the King was trying to find them. _

_It still hasn't really processed in my mind that this has happened. Nobody knows what to do anymore. The King also said Sora and his friends were the only ones who could have stopped these shadows." _

That was the penultimate entry in the journal. For a moment, neither said anything, the unnatural darkness in the place more repressive than it had been a moment ago.

"L-Let me get this straight," Sora said, the first to break the uneasy silence. "Radiant Garden is like this three months from today because the bad part of the prophecy comes true, and we all get killed." He turned to Roxas. "What's all that stuff about you and Riku fighting?"

"I have no idea," Roxas shook his head. "I mean - " He hesitated.

Sora looked at him expectantly. "What?" he frowned.

"Riku and I don't exactly have the best history," Roxas said quickly. "I dunno! But it's not like we'd fight over that when there's all of this shadow stuff to deal with."

Sora was about to answer, but a third voice suddenly rang out from behind them.

"You'd be surprised at the sort of stupidity humans are capable of," it said.

Sora and Roxas turned and scrambled to their feet, to behold a tall woman. Her pale face and white gown contrasted with her long, jet-black hair and dark eyes. She had a youthful appearance, with long limbs and a smooth face, but at the same time there was something ageless about her.

She would have been beautiful, if not for the disdainful stare she fixed upon Sora and Roxas.

"You're the one who's behind this," Sora assessed. He summoned his Keyblade, and Roxas followed suit. "The enchantress in charge of the Domain of Shadows, right?"

"Close, but not entirely correct," she answered. "The enchantress herself is not 'behind this', as you say. She makes a useful vessel, however."

"Let her go," Sora growled, his eyes narrowing.

"I will not," answered the being possessing the enchantress. "Especially not after the effort it took to relocate the two of you. The heart of this world called out to you and pulled you here to show you the destruction that befell it, and to implore you to save it."

"Which we will," Roxas interjected. "Now that we know what'll happen if we don't."

At this, the enchantress turned to face Roxas. "Roxas," she said slowly. "You are the most interesting to me."

"I'm flattered," Roxas said sarcastically.

A smirk. "We will play later. This detour of yours is but a minor setback. I shall send you back to your time, and then there shall be a race between us."

"A race?" Sora asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She focused her attention on Sora, then. "A race, Sora, to see who will reach your friends first."

Sora's eyes widened. "H-Hey, wait-!" But the enchantress and scenery had already begun to melt away, and in its place warm, bright hues began to form.

The world seemed to reshape itself around them, and when it was finished, they were standing in front of the Twilight Town train station, blinking at the sudden bright light.

* * *

_Sora's not having a very good day. Sorry, Sora! XD _


	3. Yen Sid

**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**

_Chapter Three: Yen Sid _

* * *

Sora shifted uncomfortably in his seat on the train, as the buildings of Twilight Town grew sparse and then disappeared altogether. The mysterious train made its journey to the strange, in-between world where Yen Sid resided with no conductor or anything, just as it had last time.

Sora glanced over at Roxas, who was gazing out the window. He'd hardly said a thing since they'd arrived so unexpectedly in Twilight Town. Luckily, the station plaza had been bustling with people embarking on their morning commutes, and Sora and Roxas' sudden appearance didn't seem to attract any unwanted attention.

"I guess we oughta go see Yen Sid, now that we're here," Sora had said, scanning the area for any of the shadow monsters. All seemed quiet.

Roxas had merely nodded absently, gazing out past the ledge surrounding the plaza and at the whole of Twilight Town spread out below them.

The train seemed to glide through the air for a while, until in the distance they could make out the turrets of Yen Sid's tower. As when Sora had visited before, the train slowed to a stop directly in front of the tower. Unlike last time, though, the train did not vanish as soon as he and Roxas had disembarked.

"...You okay?" Sora asked finally.

Roxas exhaled deeply. "Yeah. I'm fine." In truth, he wasn't sure that he was. It was simply hard to reconcile the fact that he had once known Twilight Town as his home, in a way that the World That Never Was had never been, when those memories were of things that had never truly happened.

As they approached the stronghold, the doors swung open automatically. Everything was just as quiet as Twilight Town had been as they climbed the numerous spiral stairs to Yen Sid's study. Last time Sora had been here, there were more Heartless every five feet.

"Y'know, something's kinda bothering me," Sora said, as they continued the long ascent upwards.

"What?"

"If all it takes for this..."bad" prophecy to come true is for one of us to get killed, then why'd the shadow lady bother warping us back to Twilight Town? Why not just kill us right there and get the job done?"

"I don't think it is just about getting the job done, though," Roxas answered. "I mean...she kept saying all that stuff about playing with us, and it's a race to find the others. She didn't kill us back there because she didn't want to then."

Sora made a face. "Awesome," he muttered.

By then, they had finally reached the door to Yen Sid's study. Sora exchanged a look with Roxas, who shrugged in reply. Sora reached up a hand to knock on the door, but it opened slightly of its own accord.

"Come in," came a voice from inside.

Sora pushed the door open the rest of the way, and he and Roxas stepped into the study. The wizard Yen Sid sat at large wooden desk at the end of the room.

"I have been expecting you both," he said, gesturing them forward. "King Mickey had told me many things about the current situation."

"The King was here?" Sora repeated. When Yen Sid nodded, he pressed on. "What about Riku, Kairi, and Naminé?!"

Yen Sid frowned. "Your friends have not been here. Unfortunately, their current location is unknown. The King is attempting to discover where they are as we speak."

Sora's shoulders slumped.

"_However_," Yen Sid began, "the King is reasonably certain that they were able to escape Destiny Islands without injury."

"What about Destiny Islands, anyway?" Roxas spoke up. "What happened to it?"

Yen Sid turned to Roxas as if just seeing him for the first time. "Right now, it hangs precariously balanced between light and darkness. If you fail to defeat the force behind this attack in enough time, Destiny Islands will succumb to darkness," he explained, after scrutinizing the boy for a brief moment.

"How long do we have?" Roxas asked.

"Perhaps two weeks."

Sora and Roxas exchanged glances. Just like in the diary they'd found in the future.

Yen Sid leaned forward, placing the tips of his fingers together. "Regrettably, we know very little about the being behind these attacks."

"Oh, it's definitely that enchantress who's supposed to be guarding the Domain of Shadows," Sora piped up. "Well, there's somebody possessing her, anyway."

Yen Sid regarded him curiously. "You have seen her?"

"Yep." So Sora explained how they had come to see the destroyed future Radiant Garden, and how in that timeline the second half of the prophecy had come true. Yen Sid grew quiet upon hearing the story, leaning back in his chair.

"I know she – it – whoever said all that stuff about wanting to have a race to see who can find my friends first," Sora spoke up, "but it's still kind of weird that she didn't just kill us then."

At this, Yen Sid waved a hand. A heavy leather tome extracted itself from one of the bookshelves in the room, floating over to the desk and opening itself in front of Roxas and Sora.

"It is not so strange," Yen Sid began. "You see, whoever controls the Domain of Shadows controls the balance of light and dark in all worlds. The Domain has existed since the beginning of the worlds." He gestured to the book. Peering at it, Roxas and Sora saw it was an ancient encyclopedia of sorts that had opened itself to the page on the Domain of Shadows.

"As such," Yen Sid continued, "a variety of precautions and provisos have been put in place to prevent the enchantress from being harmed or to prevent outsiders from entering the Domain of Shadows. One such restriction is that the enchantress cannot leave the Domain of Shadows for more than a few hours, and she may only speak to outsiders, nothing more, and only under extenuating circumstances."

Roxas frowned. "Are you saying that whatever it is that's controlling her couldn't kill us in Radiant Garden because it has to follow the same rules she does?"

Yen Sid nodded. "That is correct. That is why she sends shadows in her stead."

"What's the deal with those shadows, anyway?" Sora asked.

"Shadows, like most people and worlds, are made of equal parts light and darkness. However, the dark force currently controlling their domain has altered the very shadows themselves. They have become dark creatures, not unlike the Heartless."

"How do you get rid of them?" Roxas asked.

"Light," Yen Sid answered simply. "Which is why the Keyblade makes an effective weapon against them. I myself have managed to keep them out of Twilight Town with a spell, but I will not be able to keep it going forever."

Roxas frowned. "So, the big question: how do we get rid of whatever it is controlling the enchantress without hurting her?"

"This, I do not know," was the reply. "Because it is so crucial in keeping the worlds safe, there are many secrets of the Domain of Shadows that only its ruler know. But I would hazard a guess that the powers of light must be brought back to the Domain of Shadows. Then, whatever evil force that is behind this will be driven out."

Roxas' eyes narrowed. "Does that mean...we have to go to the Domain of Shadows?"

"All five of you must, as dictated by the prophecy the King described to you."

"Then tell us how to get there," Sora said urgently.

Yen Sid frowned. "As I said, little is known about the Domain of Shadows, including how to enter it."

Sora groaned.

"_But_, I do know that five objects are required to enter. Exactly what these objects are, I do not know."

"One for each of us," Roxas noted.

"According to legend, these five magical objects were scattered throughout different worlds, to make entering the Domain of Shadows as difficult as possible. Furthermore, after they are used, all five items automatically return to their original location," Yen Sid explained.

"Okay, that means that whoever's behind this collected all five objects to get in and possess the enchantress, and now we need to go around re-collecting the objects," Roxas clarified.

Yen Sid nodded as he stood, crossing the room to one of the tall bookshelves, eyes scanning over each volume. "Ah, here," he said to himself, plucking a particularly thick volume from the shelf. He brought the book back to his desk and opened it, revealing a hollow cavity carved out of the pages. Inside the cavity was a small bag of blue velvet, embroidered with silver stars and crescent moons.

Sora and Roxas watched closely, waiting to see what sort of object was in there that had to be hidden so well. Yen Sid tipped the bag over, and a small, rusted skeleton key dropped into his palm.

"It's just a...key," Sora said aloud. "I mean, keys are great and all, but-"

"Take this," Yen Sid interrupted, offering the key to Sora. "It has been in my possession for a long time."

"What's it open?" Roxas asked, peering at the key now held in Sora's hand. It didn't look special, just old.

"Something hidden in the Old Mansion of Twilight Town," Yen Sid answered. "While I cannot be sure that it will be of any use to you, I was instructed many years ago to make sure that key never fell into the wrong hands. The Old Mansion holds many secrets pertaining to the Realms of Light and Darkness. You may find more answers there."

Sora nodded determinedly, pocketing the key. "We'll go there right away, sir. Thanks for all your help."

Yen Sid merely nodded in acknowledgment.

But Roxas looked uncertain. "I have a question for you," he said slowly.

Yen Sid regarded him with surprise. "Yes?"

"What happens to me and Naminé when this is all over?" Roxas asked. "Do we stay human, or will we fade away again?"

Yen Sid leaned back in his chair again, frowning. "The King mentioned to me your concern. I do not know what will befall you and Naminé. But let me ask you this, Roxas: does it matter?"

"H-huh?"

"What I mean is, does saving the worlds mean less to you if you are to 'fade away', as you say?"

Roxas just stared in disbelief. "Of course not! I- " But still, the thought had occurred to him, no matter how many times he tried to squash it down. _Why should you care about the worlds_, it said, when _none of them have ever cared about you?_

"I-I'm not just trying to save my own skin, you know!" Roxas retorted finally.

"That seemed to be your intention when you opened a Corridor of Darkness in Destiny Islands."

_Was it? No...well, yes, he was trying to save himself, but save Sora, too – _

Roxas was at a loss for words.

Sora, who had been watching the entire scene unfold, dumbfounded, stepped forward. "H-hey, come on," he said to Yen Sid. "Roxas hasn't had it easy, but he's a good guy..."

Yen Sid ignored Sora's protests. "Why is it that you can still open Corridors of Darkness, if you are human?"

"I don't know!" Roxas shouted. "If you apparently know so much about me, then you tell me!"

"H-hey!" Sora protested feebly.

Yen Sid leaned forward, his own voice growing louder. "Roxas, I believe that you will fade away from this world eventually, because you are an anomaly. You were an anomaly as a Nobody, and you are one now as a Nobody-turned-human."

Roxas just stared for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't have to stand here and take this anymore. I'll be outside, Sora," he said, his voice tight with anger.

"O-okay," Sora said weakly.

Roxas turned and was reaching for the door, when Yen Sid spoke again.

"Do not misunderstand me, boy," he thundered, so that Roxas, despite himself, paused and half turned back. "I do not speak out of a prejudiced hatred for Nobodies as the man known as DiZ once did. I only ask you to consider this: _what sort of destiny can there possibly for one who was never meant to exist_?"

The room grew quiet and tense. Roxas stood at the door, one hand still resting on the doorknob. He didn't look at either of the others in the room. Sora held his breath, waiting for Roxas to yell again, and when he didn't, Sora found that he was waiting for Roxas to say something, _anything_, and not just stand there like he'd had the life sucked out of him. Finally, without a word, Roxas turned and left the room, pulling the door shut behind him.

Sora exhaled loudly. He turned to look back at Yen Sid, who was leaning back in his chair as though nothing had happened.

Sora opened his mouth to speak. It didn't matter if what Yen Sid had said was true or not; Sora had to say something. But what he finally blurted out was, "My mom always taught me that if you can't say anything nice, then just don't say anything at all."

With that, he turned and hurried out of the room after Roxas, missing the bewildered look on Yen Sid's face.

"Roxas, wait up!" Sora called as he left the study, rushing down the stairs after the other. Roxas paused to allow Sora to catch up to him, but said nothing.

"I, uh, guess we oughta go check out the Old Mansion now, huh?" Sora said, keeping his tone nonchalant.

"Yeah," Roxas said simply. He didn't sound or look angry anymore – just tired. And Sora realized he would much prefer Roxas to be angry.

Roxas didn't say anything as they boarded the train that would take them back to Twilight Town, either, only gazed out the window as orange sherbet clouds reappeared in the sky above them. Sora sighed, resting his hands on his knees.

"We oughta come back to Twilight Town once all this is over. You know, to hang out. We could get some of that weird ice cream you like."

Roxas turned to face Sora at this, his expression sour. "You're not that subtle, are you?"

"Aw, c'mon!" Sora pouted, slumping back in his seat. "You aren't really thinking about what Yen Sid said, are you?"

Roxas turned back to face the window. "He's right, though. I was never meant to exist. Not as a Nobody, not now."

"Geez, you oughta make up your mind," Sora said quietly. "I mean, do you want to fade away or don't you?"

Roxas rounded on him. "I-!" But the reply was caught in his throat. He closed his mouth and turned back to the window. "I just... If I don't fade away, what are we supposed to do, Sora? I'm just this kid that suddenly appears out of nowhere? What, am I going to live in your closet?"

"Yes!" Sora exclaimed, as though this were the most obvious thing in the world. "If that's what we have to do, then yeah! But I'm sure we could think of something better."

He reached out and gripped Roxas' shoulder, who turned to meet his friendly gaze. "C'mon," Sora said. "We're friends now, aren't we?"

Roxas couldn't answer, not right then. It was a valid question, but one that he didn't know the answer to. Of course, he liked Sora. But to be his friend...

It was difficult, when all the friends Roxas had ever known were gone. If they had even been real to begin with. Roxas turned away to avoid seeing the disappointment on Sora's face, as the train pulled back into the station.

It was midday then. The station plaza was much emptier than it had been when they had arrived, but there was one disturbing difference. Their shadows, and all the shadows around them, were far too short for the early evening glow of Twilight Town.

"Just like in the other Radiant Garden," Sora breathed. "I guess Yen Sid's spell is gonna expire sooner than he thought."

Roxas didn't answer at first, just looked out across the town. Somewhere out there was "his" house. Far in the distance he could see the beach, where he'd gone every summer with Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

They were false memories, but no matter how many times he told himself that, they stayed with him, and now he could feel them in his heart, weighting it down and squeezing it until he thought it might burst.

Roxas put a hand over his chest. _Having a heart sucks._

"Even if I fade away," he said finally, turning to Sora, "this place is the closest thing I have to a home. So...I'm gonna save it." There was determination in his blue eyes now.

Sora nodded, his expression grave. "Okay. Let's get to it, then."

* * *

They were able to make it to the Old Mansion with no trouble. But they were uneasy; the padlock holding the front gate closed had been torn off and was lying on the ground. When they examined it closer, they could see deep gashes, and even teeth marks, in the chain links.

The Old Mansion was large, and it would take a long time to comb the entirety of it for any secrets that could be unlocked with the key they'd received from Yen Sid. The library had seemed the logical place to start in a search for secrets; it contained the clandestine entrance to the extensive basement where Sora had slept for a year.

"So what do you think we're supposed to open with that key?" Roxas asked, as they began to examine the books, the walls, the floors, everything.

"I dunno, a chest?" Sora shrugged. He observed the dizzying amount of books in the library with dismay. It'd take forever to look for a clue in all of those...

"Huh...what about a door?" Roxas asked, gesturing toward a pair of glass double doors at one end of the library.

They both went over to investigate, and sure enough, the doors were locked. Peering out through the windows, they could see a courtyard completely overgrown with foliage.

"Sure looks like nobody's been there for a while...Just like there's some kinda big secret out there, huh?" Sora quipped, pulling the old key out of his pocket and inserting it into the lock. It clicked, and the door swung open. Sora took the key out of the door, replacing it in his pocket.

The size of the courtyard was admirable. At one time, the gardens would have been extraordinary. But the illusion was shattered when Roxas looked down: large, three-toed footprints were visible in the dirt and overgrowth. He nudged Sora and gestured at them, who gulped. Whatever had made those was far from human. And the last being to enter the courtyard had to have been whoever was behind everything.

The footprints led to a dry, broken-down water fountain in the middle of the courtyard. Roxas knelt down, tracing his fingers across the broken, dull, and dirty marble. "Looks like this is important, somehow."

Sora circled the fountain. The strange footprints circled the fountain as well. Where they stopped, so did Sora. "W-whoa!" he said aloud. "C'mere, look at this!"

Roxas hurried over, looking down at where Sora was pointing. Inside the fountain, on the bottom, was an etching of a five-pointed star. At every point, there was an indentation. The shape of each indentation was slightly different, as if a different object were meant to go in each one.

"What do you wanna bet this is where we put the five objects we need to get to the Domain of Shadows?" Roxas breathed.

Sora nodded. "Too bad we still don't know exactly what we need or where to find them."

Roxas was about to reply, when Sora suddenly let out a yelp of pain.

"What was that?!" Roxas exclaimed, as Sora frantically reached into his pocket, digging out the key from Yen Sid, and throwing it onto the ground in front of them.

"It just got really...hot all of a sudden!" Sora cried helplessly.

The key was glowing brightly, and just when they thought it may burst into flame, gold, ornate text materialized in the air in front of them.

"_Young hero, your journey is likely to be a perilous one. Keep your wits about you, and recall that all heroes must start somewhere,_" read the bizarre message. It hovered in the air a moment longer, and then vanished. The old key was back to its normal state, and Sora cautiously poked at it. When it didn't burn him, he scooped it up and put it back in his pocket.

"That was...weird," Roxas blinked.

"Tell me about it," Sora sighed. The two of them sat side by side on the edge of the old fountain.

"It was a definitely a clue, though."

"Definitely." Sora frowned. "Maybe a clue to where we go next?"

"Maybe." Roxas leaned forward, resting his chin in his hand. "Why can't they just say 'go here and do this'?"

Sora nodded absentmindedly, his brow furrowed. " 'All heroes must start somewhere'," he repeated. "Where do heroes get their start?"

"Uh..."

The answer hit both of them like a bolt of lightning. Roxas sat upright, and they whipped around to face each other.

"Olympus Coliseum!" they exclaimed in unison.

"Yeah! ...Wait, you've been there before?" Sora asked, his expression changing from triumph to confusion.

Roxas nodded, getting to his feet. "When I was in the Organization," he said distractedly.

"O-oh," Sora blinked, getting up as well.

"But that's got to be what the riddle was referring to," Roxas said, already holding out his hand.

"It's gotta be," Sora agreed. "Maybe we'll find one of the five thingies we need. Or at least get an idea of where they are."

Roxas opened a Corridor of Darkness leading to Olympus Coliseum, and they stepped inside. There were still an awful lot of questions – spoken and unspoken – but at least now they were on a path toward answers.

* * *

_Roxas isn't really having a good day either. XD; Sorry, Roxas. Next chapter, we'll find out what kind of day Kairi, Riku, and Naminé have been having! _


	4. Friends on the Other Side

**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**

_Chapter Four: Friends on the Other Side_

_Notes: Thanks to m'dear NerdySkeleton for suggesting what world Riku, Kairi, and Naminé should end up in. ;)_

* * *

Just forty-eight hours before Sora and Roxas arrived in Olympus Coliseum, Riku was asleep.

He wasn't worried about the math test they had the following morning, not at all. Sora teased him all the time about how studious Riku had become after their adventures, but Riku had only ever shrugged it off, never attempting to explain why – he _needed_ the normalcy of doing homework. He needed to believe that normal could still exist for him, and that one day he would be able to forgive himself fully for everything he'd done.

But that night, Riku slept, far away from those worries, completely unaware of the storm brewing outside, and of how everything had suddenly changed for Sora and Kairi.

It was such a good sleep (and that was sort of rare for him) that Riku hardly felt like opening his eyes, even when he heard a voice calling his name. Slowly, though, the voice grew louder and more insistent, and Riku realized it was King Mickey calling his name.

Riku forced himself up and out of bed, opening his eyes. Much to his surprise, he was not in his bedroom at all. Instead, his bed was sitting in the middle of a large courtyard. Huge castle walls of white stone soared above his head, and the blue-capped towers pointed toward a clear blue sky.

"Hey!"

Riku looked down to behold King Mickey, looking up at him impatiently.

"Hey, Your Majesty," Riku said complacently. It was nice to see his old friend again, even if the circumstances were awfully strange. "Am I dreaming or something?"

"Yes, but that's no reason not to look sharp, Riku! Now listen up, I've got somethin' important to tell you," Mickey said, his hands on his hips.

Riku nodded, more awake now. Still in the t-shirt and sweatpants he wore to bed, he stood up straighter. "Okay, what's going on?"

"Well, for starters, the worlds are in trouble again, especially Destiny Islands," Mickey said urgently. "I had to come see you in a dream because when I went there to talk to Sora and Roxas, I got kicked out by whoever it is that's causing the trouble!"

Riku frowned. He must have still been half-asleep... "Did you just say...Roxas? What does he have to do with anything?"

"An awful lot," Mickey answered. "And Naminé, too." Quickly, he relayed to Riku everything he'd told Sora and Roxas – all that he knew about the Domain of Shadows and the enchantress who lived there; what he remembered of the prophecy; and how somebody had probably possessed the enchantress in order to separate Roxas and Naminé from Sora and Kairi and attempt to make the second half of the prophecy come true.

"Roxas and Naminé – they're still Nobodies, like before?" Riku asked.

"Er, no, and that's the crazy part," Mickey said, rubbing the back of his neck. "They're separate people now, as whole as Sora or Kairi or you."

Riku stared. "Are you sure?"

Mickey nodded. "Yup! Saw it with my own eyes when I spoke to Sora and Roxas. But, well... Thing is, the shadow enchantress isn't allowed to use her magic like that. So...after you guys stop all of this, she might have to, er, put Roxas and Naminé back."

Riku paused, considering this. Of course Naminé had been a helpful ally once she had begun to stand up to the Organization, but this was different. And Roxas...well, he was unpredictable.

"So, how do we stop all of this?" Riku asked finally.

"I think the five of you are gonna have to go to the Domain of Shadows yourselves and defeat whoever it is that's behind this. But be careful," Mickey warned, "because it's really tough to get into the Domain of Shadows in the first place."

Riku frowned. "Then whoever's possessed the shadow enchantress has to be pretty powerful, right?"

"Right. And awfully dark."

"So...how do we get there?" Riku asked.

"In a few hours, you'll wake up for real, and it'll be dawn. Roxas and Sora should be waiting outside your house. Then, the three of you need to go get Kairi and Naminé. I'm gonna try and create a portal near Kairi's house that will take you to the wizard Yen Sid, who lives outside of Twilight Town. He'll have more information about how actually enter the Domain of Shadows."

"What about Sora and Roxas?"

"I've told them the same thing – find you, and try to get to Kairi's house. And I told them the same thing I'm gonna tell you now." His expression grew urgent. "Riku, if things get too crazy, then you've gotta get out of here with Kairi and Naminé. Roxas and Sora will find their own way to Yen Sid's if they have to. Understood?"

Riku nodded slowly. "Understood," he repeated.

"Good." Mickey looked solemn for a moment, but then he grinned suddenly. "Aw, I bet this'll be a piece of cake for you guys," he said, giving Riku a thumbs-up.

Riku smiled a bit, returning the gesture. The courtyard around them began to fade, the dark walls of Riku's bedroom slowly replacing the white castle walls.

"O-oh, shoot!" Mickey exclaimed suddenly, as he began to fade out of Riku's vision as well. "I forgot to tell ya – if you ever get stuck or lost, Naminé's sketchpad – "

But whatever it was that Mickey had to say about Naminé's sketchpad, Riku didn't get to hear. The spell worked its magic, sending Riku into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

The next thing Riku knew, his cell phone was ringing. He reached over to his nightstand and fumbled for it, forcing bleary eyes open to squint at the caller I.D. It was Kairi.

A little more awake, Riku flipped the phone open and held it to his ear. "Hello?" he said somewhat groggily, sitting up.

"Riku!?" came Kairi's voice on the other line. She sounded distressed. "Okay, good, because Sora didn't pick up his phone, and I need some help – "

"Wait, Sora didn't pick up – so he's not with you?" Riku interrupted.

"No, is he supposed to be?" Kairi asked, sounding worried.

Riku didn't answer right away. If Sora and Roxas weren't at Kairi's, and they certainly didn't seem to be at Riku's... was it possible they were in trouble already? King Mickey had said that Roxas and Sora would come to them, but what if he and the girls needed to get Roxas and Sora?

"Okay, Kairi, I'll be at your house in five minutes," Riku said finally, getting up and crossing the room to his dresser, hurriedly yanking his clothes out of it. "I need you too – "

"Hey, _I_ need you to listen!" Kairi interrupted. "Something...weird happened last night, um..."

"It's Naminé, right?"

"Wha-!? How'd you know that!?" Kairi demanded.

"No time to explain now. You and Naminé need to be ready to leave in five minutes. The worlds are in trouble."

Kairi was silent a moment. "Is Sora in trouble, too?"

"...He might be. I dunno. We'll figure out what to do when I get there."

"Okay," Kairi sighed. "I'll tell Naminé. Bye, Riku."

"Bye." Riku hung up, tossing the phone onto his bed and throwing his clothes on. It suddenly occurred to him that he probably should've kept a little quieter, just in case – it would be much easier to get to Kairi's this early if his father wasn't up and asking questions.

Dressed and ready to go, Riku pushed open his bedroom door and stepped quietly into the hall. The snoring from behind his father's bedroom door told him he was still in the clear. As quickly and silently as he could, Riku slipped down the hall and out the front door, carefully latching it behind him.

Hurrying up the street toward Kairi's house, he became aware of an unsettling feeling in the air. The clouds were dark, and gusts of wind blew through the palm trees around him. Riku quickened his pace.

Kairi was waiting for him on the porch of the mayor's villa, her arms folded tight across her chest and her face worried.

"Where's Naminé?" Riku asked as he approached.

"She snuck out around back," Kairi answered, already hopping off the porch and leading Riku around the back of the house. "I didn't want anybody to see her."

The villa had a sprawling, fenced-in back patio, complete with swimming pool. As they approached the fence, Naminé came out from behind a deck chair. She hurried over and unlatched the gate, approaching Kairi and Riku.

"Hi, Riku," she said quietly. Outwardly, she seemed calmer than Kairi, but Riku noticed she was clutching her sketchpad tightly to her chest.

"Now, tell us what's going on," Kairi frowned, her hands on her hips.

Riku nodded absently, looking down the street the way he'd come. It was still quiet. "Okay," he said. "We need to wait here for Sora and Roxas anyway."

"Roxas?" Naminé repeated. "He's...he's here too?"

Riku turned to face the two of them. "Yeah," he began. "I had this dream last night with King Mickey, where he told me about this shadow place in between the Realm of Darkness and the Realm of Light. It's run by this enchantress, and she's in trouble, or something."

"You mean the Domain of Shadows?" Naminé asked.

Riku nodded. "You know about it?"

Naminé tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Not a whole lot. But...that's bad news for everyone. It controls the balance of light and darkness between all the worlds."

"You mean if somebody evil takes over the Domain of Shadows, then they can use it to make all the worlds go dark?" Kairi asked.

Naminé nodded. "I think so."

"Let me guess," Kairi said, "we're supposed to get rid of whoever it is that's trying to do that."

"Yeah. Apparently, there's this old prophecy," Riku said then, turning back to scan the street once more. Still no sign of Sora or Roxas. "It says the three of us plus Sora and Roxas either fix everything, or we make it worse and all the worlds are lost. So that's why whoever's doing this separated Roxas and Naminé, so they can try and use us to destroy the worlds." He frowns. "Sora and Roxas were supposed to meet us here, and we'd all escape together."

"Escape?" Kairi asked. "What are we supposed to be escaping _from_?"

"Maybe those," Naminé said urgently, pointing. Strange, dark shapes were slithering along the surface of the street towards them. Riku cursed under his breath, summoning his Keyblade and stepping in front of the girls.

"Are those Heartless!?" Kairi exclaimed.

"No, they're shadows," Naminé answered, her voice low. "Whoever controls the Domain of Shadows controls shadows themselves." As she spoke, the shadows had stopped in front of the three of them and were just waiting, dancing along the surface of the street. Every so often, a spindly arm or a bit of a misshapen head would become visible above the street.

"What do we do now?" Kairi whispered.

"We need to get out of here," Riku frowned. "Sora and Roxas will have to take care of themselves."

Kairi tensed, hating the idea of having to leave without knowing Sora was alright. "But how are _we_ supposed to get out of here in the first place?" she hissed.

"Um..." Riku looked around. "Mickey said there'd be a portal around here for us to use."

"I see it," Naminé whispered suddenly, looking back toward Kairi's villa. "Just there, back behind that tree." Slowly, the others turned to look, and sure enough, there was an unnatural, pale-green glow coming from behind one of the palm trees.

"We'll make a run for it," Riku said quietly. "Ready? Count of three. One..."

The shadows seemed to move a little faster, growing impatient.

"Two..."

Perhaps it was their imaginations, but the shadows seemed to be inching closer.

"_Three!_"

And they ran, jumping over the fence and racing around the pool. There was a great splash as hundreds of shadows surged towards them, cutting through the water and sliding over the patio furniture.

One of the shadows made a leap for Riku, but rather than landing upon him, it seized his shadow, freezing him in mid-run. There was little time to think. Kairi wrenched the Keyblade out of Riku's hand and slashed haphazardly at the shadow that was not his. It dissolved into nothing and Riku pitched forward.

Naminé seized his upper arm, yanking him back upright, and the three hurtled towards the portal. It seemed to suck them in, and there was a brilliant flash of light. When it faded, they were no longer in Destiny Islands.

"Where...are we?" Kairi asked, still struggling to catch her breath.

Riku did not answer at first. He stepped forward, eyes wide in disbelief. This was not Twilight Town, as Mickey had said it would be. This was not even the stronghold of the wizard Yen Sid.

They were in the middle of a great city. Cobblestone streets were lined with tall, square buildings painted in sun-baked shades of yellow and orange. Somewhere, not too far off, they could hear cheerful music. Families were leaving their houses, excited children pulling their parents out the door towards the music.

"I don't know where we are. I've never been here before," Riku said finally. He turned back to the girls. "But this isn't where we're supposed to be. Mickey said his portal would take us to the wizard Yen Sid in Twilight Town."

Kairi frowned. "Should we be worried? I mean, this world doesn't seem so bad, whatever it is."

"Let's look around a little," Naminé suggested. "Maybe somebody can help us."

No sooner had the words left her mouth than the strange man seemed to practically materialize out of nowhere, slipping in between Riku and Naminé and coming to stand in front of the three. He leaned his lanky body on his cane, leaning in to the three. "Did I hear somebody ask for help?" he asked, voice as smooth as an oil slick, his yellow, crooked teeth standing out against his dark complexion.

Naminé, Kairi, and Riku regarded him with equal suspicion. There was an entirely untrustworthy air about this strange man.

"N-no, we're fine," Kairi said. She inched a little closer to Riku and Naminé.

The man then turned his attention to Kairi. "I beg your pardon, little miss," he said in an overly grandiose tone, sweeping his black top hat off his head and bowing low. It was then that they noticed the skull and crossbones upon his hat. "I didn't mean to scare you," he continued. "But you three look awfully lost," he added, straightening and dropping his hat back upon his head.

"Please," he said, "let the Shadow Man help you find your way. Or maybe you're lookin' for somebody? I can do that, too."

In spite of themselves, the three exchanged glances. Was it just a coincidence that this strange man called himself "the Shadow Man"?

"Look, we said we don't need your help," Riku snapped.

The man's expression darkened. "You watch your tongue, boy," he said. "_They_ call me the Shadow Man, but my _friends_ call me Doctor Facilier, and _nobody_ wants to get on my bad side."

"Sorry. But we still don't need your help," Riku said shortly, beginning to turn away. "Let's go." Kairi and Naminé turned away as well, and Doctor Facilier said nothing for a moment.

Suddenly, he grinned wickedly. "You sure you don't need help findin' your friends? Friends with, hm, big shiny keys, like yours?"

In an instant, Riku had turned back and grabbed Doctor Facilier by the lapels of his tailcoat. "What do you know about the Keyblade?" he demanded.

Doctor Facilier regarded him through narrowed eyes. For as skinny as he was, it took very little effort for him to knock Riku down. The girls hurried back over as well, crouching on either side of Riku.

Doctor Facilier squatted so that he was eye level with the three, using his cane for support. "Now, now," he said sourly. "There's no need to get _nasty_. Yes, I know about your little problem with the shadows. There's a reason they call me the Shadow Man, after all." As he said this, the three stared in shock as Doctor Facilier's _shadow_ seemed to tip its hat to them, while the real Doctor Facilier made no such movements.

"The shadows tell me things," he said simply. "And they're tellin' me there's a big shakeup of power goin' on in their realm. I've got a...side business venture planned in the meantime, shall we say, but I'm thinking I'd like a piece of that action. So it was no problem to commandeer that little portal of yours and have it dump you here. And the best part of that little enchantment is, it makes you untrackable to your friends." He leaned in a little closer. "The cavalry won't be chargin' in to save you three," he sneered, "so why don't we have a nice chat."

"_Hey!_"

Doctor Facilier whirled around. There was a young woman, only a few years older than Riku, standing some distance behind him, her arms akimbo.

"What do you think you're doing with those poor kids?" she demanded, marching forward. Doctor Facilier stood and turned to face the woman, his expression a cross between boredom and annoyance.

"It's bad enough you pick on all those poor guys down on their luck, now you're goin' after _kids_?" she exclaimed. "You get on out of here before I get the police. Or maybe I'll just go get Joe, we both know how much he hates you hangin' around his place."

Doctor Facilier scowled. "Mark my words, I swear I'm gonna knock you off of that high horse of yours one of these days," he said, pointing a bony finger at the woman. He turned his attention back to Riku, Kairi, and Naminé. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a business card and tossed it on the ground in front of them. "If you decide you want my help after all, here's how you find me. But this isn't the last you'll see of the good doctor, trust me." With that, he spun around on one heel and stalked down the street, tailcoat flipping out behind him.

Riku, Kairi, and Naminé stood, as their rescuer turned towards them. "Sorry about him," she smiled. "That Shadow Man, he's a bad apple through-and-through, but at least the rest of New Orleans ain't so bad." She was dressed plainly, her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, but she had a warm, pretty face.

"New Orleans?" Kairi repeated. "Is that...um, where we are now?"

At the strange question, the woman fixed them with a suspicious stare. "Yeah... you kids been drinking, or something?"

"Of course not!" Kairi answered, holding up her hands. "We just...we were supposed to meet some friends of ours, only we got really...turned around, and...lost."

The woman pursed her lips, and nodded. "Alright, yeah. I'm sorry, it's just the whole city's been goin' crazy, what with Prince What's-His-Face supposed to get here today..." She shook her head, letting them know exactly what she thought of Prince What's-His-Face. "Anyway, you three look exhausted," she continued. "Hey, why don't you come with me, sit a spell in my restaurant? Well, it's not _my_ restaurant, I just work there – "

The three exchanged glances, and nodded to each other. They needed to talk about what to do next, and a (hopefully) crowded restaurant sounded like a good place to do it. Not to mention, the prospect of just sitting down somewhere was attractive.

"That'd be nice," Naminé said.

The woman smiled brightly. "Wonderful! It's just around the corner, here." She began to lead them down the street. "Oh, I'm Tiana, by the way," she said. "You guys have names?"

"I'm Kairi, this is Naminé, and that's Riku," Kairi supplied, gesturing to each of them in turn.

Tiana paused a bit, fully taking in their unusual dress. "Yeah, you're not from around here, that's for sure," she said under her breath.

Just as she'd promised, the restaurant in question was a short walk away. "You're late, Tiana!" grumbled the fry cook behind the counter, as the four entered.

"Aw, hush, Joe. It's just five minutes," Tiana groused back. She gestured to a round table with seating for four towards the front of the place. "You three have a seat; I'll be right back," she said, already bustling towards the kitchen, shrugging off her olive-green duster.

The three sat down at the table.

"Now what?" Kairi asked, propping her elbows on the table. "That guy said he put an enchantment on us to make it so the others can't find us, do you think he really did?"

Riku leaned back in his chair and nodded slowly. "It had to have been him that made the portal take us here in the first place. So why would he lie about the spell thing?"

"Unless he wants us to think we're stuck here, and that we have to go to him," Naminé spoke up.

"Good point," Riku sighed.

Just then Tiana returned, carrying a tray laden with three glasses of lemonade. "Here we go," she chirped, distributing them on the table.

"We don't have anything to pay you with," Riku protested.

"Oh, I figured," Tiana answered, straightening. "It's on the house."

"Are you sure?" Naminé asked. "Didn't we already get you into trouble with your boss?"

"Nah," Tiana said. "He won't mind. Besides, what goes around, comes around, right?"

Before they could answer, a man at another table called out for a waitress. "Be right there!" Tiana called back, bustling away again.

Kairi sipped her lemonade thoughtfully. "Well...we are sort of stuck here, aren't we?" Neither answered. It sure appeared that way.

Riku glanced over at Naminé. She still had her sketchpad with her; she had set it down on the table and was idly plucking at the plastic spiral binding.

And suddenly Mickey's final words before his dream had ended echoed in Riku's head: _"...if you ever get stuck or lost, Naminé's sketchpad..." _

Riku sat up. "Naminé, can I see your sketchbook?" he asked, his tone urgent.

Naminé blinked at him, but handed it over. "Sure," she said slowly. "There's nothing in it, though – Oh!"

Riku had flipped open the cover, and on the first page, were two paragraphs of shimmering, golden text. _"When darkness overtakes all shadows, two of the light borne out of darkness will join the three connected by one heart to restore the balance of light and dark to the world of shadows. However, a star cannot shine without all five points. Should one point be lost, the star will destroy itself and all light in the world will go out,"_ read the first paragraph.

"_To enter the Domain of Shadows, five points of the star will make five offerings in the place where day becomes night,"_ read the second.

"Naminé, did you write those?" Kairi asked, leaning forward to get a better look.

Naminé shook her head vehemently. "I don't know how they got there!"

"The first one is the prophecy Mickey was telling me about," Riku said. "It has to be. But the second one..."

"Well, 'five points of the star' refers to all of us, doesn't it?" Kairi said. "So...to get to the Domain of Shadows, all five of us need to go to 'where day becomes night', wherever that is, and make five offerings."

"Offerings of what, though?" Riku asked. "And what's 'the place where day becomes night'?"

"Hm...a sunset?" Kairi thought aloud.

"Twilight Town," Naminé said suddenly. "That's the place it's talking about. 'Where day becomes night'."

Riku nodded. "Good thinking. So...we all need to go to Twilight Town, make some kind of offering, and then we can get to the Domain of Shadows and defeat whoever's doing this."

"Okay, so now we have something of a plan," Kairi began, "but still no way to get anywhere. I mean, if, um, Naminé's magic notebook really wanted to be helpful, it'd tell us how to get out of here."

"Unless we're not supposed to leave here yet," Naminé pointed out.

Riku had gone quiet again. "We might not be stuck here, after all." He turned to Naminé. "Can you still open Corridors of Darkness?"

Naminé's eyes widened. "I-I don't know. I hadn't thought of that!"

"And if you're still connected to Sora...like, if you can sense where he is..." Riku trailed off.

"Then you could take us right to him!" Kairi said. "Naminé, do you think you can?"

Naminé shook her head. "I don't know. But I'll try..."

Riku nodded. "Good. Then let's get going." Both he and Kairi got to their feet quickly, but Naminé stood a little slower, picking up her sketchpad, replacing the cover, and holding it to her chest. The three left the little restaurant.

They had been gone for a few moments when Tiana suddenly looked up and realized her young friends were gone. She frowned; they seemed like good kids, and she was going to offer to try and help them find their missing friends. Not that she was sure what she could do, but still, there would be no harm in offering. But Charlotte was coming in then, all smiles and girlish shrieks, and all thoughts of the three young strangers were pushed from Tiana's mind.

* * *

Kairi, Naminé, and Riku stood in an alley so as not to attract any unwanted attention. Naminé stood very still, her sketchpad still clutched to her chest. Riku and Kairi watched with bated breath.

Naminé closed her eyes and tried to picture Sora, and where he was. Slowly, his face came to her mind's eye, blue eyes bright and eager and a jaunty smile on his face. He was probably with Roxas right now; where were Sora and Roxas...?

_Roxas, the boy Riku brought back to DiZ so that she could continue fixing Sora. Sora, who slept for a year because of her. Sora, gazing at her as she told him his memories of her were false, his expression confused, then betrayed, then confused again. Larxene, knocking him to the floor... the Riku Replica, whom she'd also lied to, hurt and angry, lashing out at Sora, confusing and frightening him... _

"_Don't cry," the Sora in her mind was saying softly. "Naminé, don't cry." _

"Naminé!?"

Kairi's voice pulled her back to the present. Somehow, Naminé realized, she'd fallen to her knees. Kairi had a hand on her shoulder, her expression bewildered and worried. Riku was standing to the side, watching with confused eyes.

Naminé stumbled to her feet. The thought of facing Sora again was too much; it squeezed her heart. "I-I can't find him," she choked. "Just – I'm sorry!" With that she turned and broke into a run, pretending she couldn't hear Riku and Kairi shouting her name.

* * *

_Notes: __The Princess and the Frog__ was an awesome movie, by the way. :) Writing Tiana and Doctor Facilier was way too much fun. _

_Riku is fun to write, too. I know he's supposed to be a big angstbucket and all, but come on. Anybody who can count __**Mickey Mouse**__ among their best friends is at least part-dork!_


	5. A Little Parlor Trick

**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**

_Chapter Five: A Little Parlor Trick_

_Notes: Ugh, this chapter! It really just gave me trouble from the get-go. Thanks to LuckyLadybug for bouncing plot ideas with me. And then there's the sheer length of it! I thought to myself, "Meh, chapter five, only a few things need to happen, it won't be that long." At over 6,200 words, this is the longest chapter of this story so far. XD Though, I am pretty darn happy with how it turned out. Enjoy, and sorry about the wait! _

* * *

Kairi hurried along the riverfront, pushing her way through throngs of people. A large crowd had gathered along the river, and a band was playing nearby. Children sat on their father's shoulders, or crawled through the grown-ups' legs for a better view. Kairi wasn't sure what they were all waiting for, but she didn't have time to find out. She had to find Naminé.

Kairi and Riku had decided to split up, but only briefly, since there could very well be other dangers lurking in this world besides Doctor Facilier. It was a conundrum: to find Naminé quickly, splitting up was the best solution, but it put everyone at a greater risk, as well.

Beyond the initial fear that something could happen to her, Kairi had no idea what had spooked Naminé so badly. When she had turned to Riku, his eyes were narrow, a contemplative expression on his face.

"W-What are you thinking about?" Kairi had asked, but Riku had merely shaken his head.

"It's almost a quarter till two, isn't the boat supposed to be here by now?" Kairi overheard a young woman ask her male companion. That wasn't good for Kairi; she and Riku had split up around one o'clock, deciding being separated for more than an hour was a bad idea. If she didn't find Naminé soon, she'd have to turn back and rejoin with Riku at the restaurant Tiana had taken them to, possibly losing even more time.

"Tell me about it," the man was saying. "Though I don't have any idea what we're doing here waiting to watch a prince get off a boat."

"Prince Naveen is the most eligible royal bachelor in the world!" the girl twittered, much to the annoyance of her male companion.

Kairi barely heard the rest of their conversation. Anxious, she jumped up onto a nearby bench, scanning the crowd and ignoring the bewildered and annoyed looks the passersby gave her. Then, finally she spotted Naminé, sitting at a dock not too far away, but away from the excitable crowd. She leapt down off the bench, darting through a group of stragglers, as if Naminé were going to vanish.

"Naminé!" Kairi called as she approached. Naminé looked up and tensed considerably when she saw Kairi, but she made no move to run away again. Naminé hung her head as Kairi came to sit on the dock beside her, their legs dangling over the edge.

"There you are! You know, you really scared us by running off like that," Kairi scolded.

Naminé drew her legs to her chest. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, her voice thick with unshed tears.

Kairi sighed, the chastisement dying in her throat. "It's okay. We'll just go find Riku and – "

"I couldn't sense Sora," Naminé burst out. "I-I don't know where he is."

Kairi blinked. Was Naminé really so upset over that? "Don't worry about that!" she smiled. "Really, it's alright. We'll figure something else out."

"You and Riku go ahead."

Kairi frowned. This was getting silly; was she going to have to _drag_ Naminé back? "Like we're really going to leave you here!" When Naminé didn't respond, Kairi pressed on. "C'mon, Naminé. It says it right there!" She pointed at Naminé's sketchpad, sitting at her side. "That prophecy says you're one of the five who's going to save the world. You're a part of this with all of us, whether you like it or not."

Naminé drew herself tighter together, resting her chin on her knees. "You don't understand," she said quietly.

Kairi sighed. "No, you're right, I don't understand. But...that ought to change, don't you think? After all, you are – no, _were_ – a part of me, and we're supposed to work together now to save the worlds. But I hardly know the first thing about you, Naminé." She reached out, putting a hand on Naminé's shoulder. "Please, just talk to me."

Finally, Naminé turned to face Kairi, meeting her reassuring gaze. As far as Naminé was concerned, she and Kairi were as different as night and day. Kairi was pretty, brave, and most of all, she was loved. Naminé had vowed to never again let herself be bullied into hurting other people. But how could she make up for what she'd already done? And yet, maybe if she talked about it – talked about what she _felt_, the overwhelming emotions raging inside of her...

"Please, try not to hate me," Naminé said, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Kairi nodded solemnly.

"Organization XIII found me shortly after I was...created," Naminé began. "They kept me locked up in a place called Castle Oblivion, and they managed to lure Sora there right after he defeated Ansem and saved the worlds for the first time. Back then, I could...change Sora's memories."

That was news to Kairi. "Why?"

Naminé shrugged one shoulder. "I think it's because I was created when your heart was in Sora's body. I am – or was, I guess – both your and Sora's Nobody at the same time."

"So...you did something with Sora's memories when he came to this...Castle Oblivion?"

Naminé nodded. "The Organization told me to, so they could manipulate him into doing what they wanted. But it wasn't just that they were telling me to do it. I...All of the Organization members there at Castle Oblivion either bullied me or pretended I didn't exist, and I was alone most of the time. I was so lonely, but Sora...he cares about you so much." Kairi tensed a little at this, but Naminé took no notice. "And I just...just wished somebody would care about me like that. So I replaced all of Sora's memories of you, with me." There. She'd said it. For a moment Naminé didn't dare to look at Kairi, but when she finally did, Kairi didn't look angry at all. She nodded a bit for Naminé to continue.

"The Organization made it look like they were holding me hostage and Sora had to come save me. Which he did. But...he was fighting them, and when he started to get hurt, I had to do something, even if it meant I'd be alone again. I told Sora the truth about me, and promised to put his memories back the way they were. That took a long time, a whole year."

"A year?" Kairi repeated. "Naminé, that's why I forgot about Sora, isn't it?"

"That's right."

Kairi leaned back, taking it all in. "Is...Sora still mad about it, or something?" she asked, but it was hard to imagine Sora, of all people, holding a grudge like that. After all, even after everything Ansem had put him through, he thanked "Ansem" for helping Kairi when he didn't recognize Riku right away in the World That Never Was.

"He was a little angry with me," Naminé said. "But, um...he doesn't remember it now."

Kairi sat up. "He doesn't?"

"That was the only way I could put his memories back the way they were," Naminé said quietly. "I had to get rid of all of his memories of Castle Oblivion and what happened there."

Kairi nodded slowly. "I...think I understand. You want to tell Sora about it, but you're afraid of what he'll say."

Naminé sighed. "I really can't sense him. I wasn't lying about that, or anything. But a part of me maybe doesn't want to find Sora."

Kairi leaned forward, putting her hand on Naminé's shoulder. "You know what?" she said, and Naminé turned to look at her. "I've known Sora since I was little. Sure, he's a goofball, but he has a good heart. And being Mr. Fancy Chosen One hasn't changed that. Actually, it's probably made him better. So, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. But if you tell him, I'm sure he won't hate you. I'm sure of it."

Finally, Naminé smiled a bit. "Thank you."

Kairi nodded, smiling as well. "Of course. Hey, if I had to go through the same things you did, I probably would've done the same thing."

Naminé blinked. "You? But...you're a Princess of Heart."

Kairi made a face. "That doesn't mean anything. I mean, I still get angry or sad like anybody else." She grew serious then, a long time of worry and uncertainty reflected in her eyes. "Like, I can't tell you how much I hate always being the one who needs saving, or the one who has to just sit by and wait."

"Kairi..."

Kairi suddenly turned to Naminé and smiled, banishing away her sadness. "That's why I'm...actually kind of excited for whatever's going to happen next. Even though it'll probably be dangerous. It's just that, this time it's not just the boys running around saving people, it's us too."

"I hadn't thought of it that way," Naminé said, gazing out across the river, the bright morning sun shimmering on the water's surface. "I don't know if I'm that brave, though."

"Well, sure you are," Kairi said matter-of-factly. "You saved me in the World That Never Was, right? Even though you had to go up against Saïx to do it. And you helped me find Riku. If it weren't for you, I...wouldn't have even known it was him." Before Naminé could respond, Kairi scrambled to her feet.

"Speaking of Riku," she said cheerfully, "we oughta go meet up with him so we can figure out what to do next."

Naminé nodded and hurried to her feet as well, her courage bolstered. She'd told Kairi her story, and nothing catastrophic had happened. Kairi didn't hate her or think she was a terrible person. Of course, talking to Sora was still a daunting prospect, but Naminé could push it out of her mind for the time being. This was no time to get caught in problems like that.

"Thank you, Kairi," she said softly.

Kairi just shrugged, smiling back. "Just quit thanking me, already!"

* * *

They managed to make it back to the restaurant just in time; Riku had almost given up on Kairi showing up. He regarded the girls with a mixture of exasperation and relief on his face. "You both okay?" he asked.

"We're fine," Naminé piped up. "I...I'm sorry if I worried you. And I'm sorry I couldn't figure out where Sora is."

Riku shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I realized you shouldn't be connected to Sora now, if you aren't a Nobody anymore. But what about Corridors of Darkness, do you think you could still open one?"

Naminé shrugged. "I really don't know. I can try, though."

Riku nodded. "See if you can open one to Twilight Town, so we can go see this Yen Sid guy."

They returned to the same quiet alley across from the restaurant where Naminé had tried to sense Sora. Out of sight from curious passersby, Naminé closed her eyes and held her hand out, conjuring up images of Twilight Town in her mind. She could see it perfectly, the perpetual sunset that gave the town its name. But she could only see it; nothing more. As hard as she tried, the darkness couldn't reach Twilight Town.

"That's enough," she heard Riku say, but it wasn't enough. Twilight Town felt so close but she could not reach it, as though there were some kind of barrier in the way. Her arm trembled with the effort.

"Stop it," Riku said, firmer this time, reaching out to put his hand over Naminé's, pushing her arm back down. When she opened her eyes, he was regarding her with that same mixture of exasperation and concern.

"Are you okay?!" Kairi asked in alarm.

Naminé took in a shaky breath. "I'm fine. It's just...that was strange. It felt like I should have been able to open a Corridor of Darkness, but...I don't know, it was as though something was stopping me from doing it."

"What do you mean, something was stopping you?" Riku asked.

Naminé bit her lip. "It's hard to explain." She looked at Riku helplessly. "I mean, you used to be able to open them too. It's like reaching out through the darkness and opening a door to where you want to go. But just now, it was as if...the door was there, but it was locked."

"How would it get locked?" Riku asked, but none of the trio had an answer.

Kairi looked from Riku to Naminé; they both looked as clueless as Kairi felt. She was pretty sure she knew what a Corridor of Darkness was, but being mostly ignorant to things like this was so frustrating to her. How could she be of help if she hardly knew what was going on? Kairi sighed, leaning up against the wall in the alley they'd come to. This certainly wasn't what she was expecting to wake up to when she'd gone to bed the previous night. First Naminé appeared in her bedroom, then Destiny Islands was attacked by _shadows_, of all things, and then they were menaced by a creep who called himself "the Shadow Man" –

Her train of thought came to an abrupt halt. She'd forgotten about him in the confusion surrounding Naminé. What was it he'd said...?

"_So it was no problem to commandeer that little portal of yours and have it dump you here. And the best part of that little enchantment is, it makes you untrackable to your friends."_

She hurriedly pushed herself up off the wall, her eyes wide. "Could someone else lock the door?" she asked urgently.

Riku looked over. "What are you thinking?"

"That...creepy guy, Doctor Facilier. He brought us here, right? So couldn't he be the one keeping us from leaving?"

"I've never heard of magic that could do that, but it sounds plausible," Naminé nodded. "Didn't he say something like we hadn't seen the last of him?"

They both turned to Riku, who didn't answer at first. He reached into his pocket, pulling out the business card the Shadow Man had tossed at him earlier. He'd pocketed it just in case, and now it looked as though it may come in handy. "There's one way to find out," he said finally.

Kairi came and stood next to him, peering at the address on the card over his shoulder. "Though, we don't have any idea where that is."

Riku glanced up, nodding toward the nearby restaurant. "We have someone we can ask."

"Tiana?" Kairi asked. She shook her head vehemently. "We can't get her involved in this!"

"She won't get involved," Riku retorted, already exiting the alley and heading across the street for the restaurant. "We just need directions."

"I guess so..." Kairi frowned, hurrying after him as he weaved through passing cars.

"If we don't tell her exactly where we're going, it should be okay," Naminé spoke up, turning back to the others as they stepped up onto the sidewalk. She turned back, and bumped straight into Tiana.

The young woman looked much as she had when they first saw her that morning – her hands on her hips, one eyebrow raised in a cautious gaze. "If you don't tell who where you're going?" she asked suspiciously.

"Oh...Hi, Tiana, nice to see you again," Kairi said, in a vain attempt to defuse the situation. "A-are you done work?"

"Hi yourself. Yeah, I'm going to see two gentlemen about something," Tiana frowned. "Now, listen, I don't make it my business to mess around in _other_ people's business, but you three appear out of nowhere this morning, dressed like – like – well, I don't even know what you're dressed like – and then you go disappearing again without a trace, and Doctor Facilier wants something to do with you – "

"That's where we need to go," Riku interrupted. "We need you to tell us where we can find Doctor Facilier."

Tiana folded her arms. "Uh-uh, no way," she said, with a shake of her head. "He's _bad_ news."

"And we know that," Kairi jumped in. "But, our friends might be in trouble. And we're not sure where they are."

"Then we'll go to the police!"

The three exchanged glances – the suggestion, though sincere, was almost comic under the circumstances. "Our friends aren't anywhere that the police could find, trust us," Naminé said. "We think Doctor Facilier's doing something to keep us from leaving to find our friends. Or he knows something we don't."

"We aren't going to do anything stupid," Riku frowned. "Besides, we've gone up against much worse than him."

"Please," Kairi said. "This might be the only way we can help our friends."

Tiana looked from one to the other. Their expressions were determined, hopeful, and she knew they weren't going to take no for an answer. But then, neither would she, were she in their shoes. What would she be willing to face for the things and people she cared about?

What would her father do, if he was there?

Tiana sighed. "Alright. I'll tell you." She quickly relayed the directions. Facilier's lair wasn't too far from the restaurant; for that reason, he was often lurking outside it.

Riku nodded solemnly, and Kairi and Naminé looked at each other and smiled, but Tiana was still bothered. "I've got somewhere to be," she said, "but I really feel like I oughta come with you, or something..."

"No way," Kairi said firmly, and the others nodded in agreement. "I mean, we've already got you involved in this enough." With that, they began to walk away.

"Wait, involved in _what_, exactly?!" Tiana demanded.

"Hopefully, you'll never have to find out," Riku answered over his shoulder.

"Bye, Tiana, thanks for everything!" Kairi waved.

"Good luck!" Naminé added.

Tiana watched their retreating backs for a while. Whatever they were up to, they seemed like good kids, and they seemed to have each other's backs.

'Luck'...With a start, Tiana remembered she was supposed to be meeting with the real estate men. With any luck, then, that old sugar mill would be hers, and she'd be that much closer to her dream. Tiana turned and hurried in the opposite direction of the three, without an inkling of how vastly different her life would be in twelve hours.

* * *

Doctor Facilier's hideout was not hard to find, now that they knew where to look. It was a run-down old building, plastered with signs that advertised the sorts of goods and services that could be purchased there. Riku, Kairi, and Naminé stood in front of it, hardly knowing what sort of confrontation to expect.

"So what's our strategy?" Kairi asked, her voice and body tensing, like a rubber band pulled too tight. She was a little afraid, but more than anything else, she was excited to be a part of the action, rather than standing on the sidelines of it.

"I'm going in alone," Riku said abruptly.

"You – wait, what!?" Kairi stared at him, first with incredulity, then with a growing annoyance. Riku stared ahead, ignoring Kairi's angry glare.

Naminé immediately attempted to defuse the situation; after all, what did stretched-out rubber bands do except snap? "Riku, please, we can help too," she began. "It's too dangerous for you to go in alone."

Riku shook his head. "How dangerous can one guy be?"

"Probably pretty dangerous!" Kairi exclaimed. But Riku was walking forward, Keyblade already in hand.

"I'll just be a few minutes. Wait out here. ...Please," he added, his hand on the doorknob. And with that, he opened the door and was gone.

Riku found himself in a dark, long room, lined with shelves and end tables, which in turn were covered in every sort of strange object imaginable. There were skulls everywhere, for one – skulls of small animals, skulls of large animals, and even, Riku noted with distaste, a few human skulls. There were locks of hair, lucky rabbits' feet, and jewels that glowed in the candlelight, the only source of light in the place. Suddenly, however, a hanging lamp at the end of the room flickered to life, and Doctor Facilier was sitting at a table under the dingy glow of the light.

"Well, don't just stand there, boy," he spoke up, idly shuffling through a pack of cards.

Riku came forward, the glow of candlelight glinting off of his Keyblade, still clenched in his fist. "So," Facilier drawled, as Riku came closer. "That's a Keyblade, eh?"

"We can't open a Corridor of Darkness," Riku said flatly, ignoring the interest in his Keyblade. "What did you do?"

Facilier blinked at him a moment, before leaning back in his chair and chuckling dryly. "A Corridor of Darkness? _That's_ how you kids get around? I thought they were legend. 'Course, when I woke up this morning, I thought Keyblades were just legends, too..." He leaned forward, hungrily eyeing Riku's Keyblade again. "But yes, I'm the reason you can't leave New Orleans. Useful spell, this one," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a folded piece of paper. Unfolding it, Riku saw a strange and intricate-looking circle. "As long as this paper exists, you can't leave."

Riku tensed, ready to dive across the table and snatch it out of Facilier's hands, if he had to.

"Nice try, boy," Facilier said, grinning wickedly as he replaced the paper in his pocket. Abruptly, he stood, coming around from behind the table. Riku watched him closely, keeping the Keyblade pointed at him.

Facilier rifled through the contents of a large cupboard. "Tell you what," he said easily. "We'll make a deal. You hand over that Keyblade and teach me how to travel by darkness. I'll lift the spell keeping you from leaving."

"What about the spell keeping our friends from finding us?"

"No, that one can only wear off with time, I'm afraid. But instead, I'll even throw in this." Facilier turned, and in his bony hand he held a small glass display case. Inside was a large emerald.

"What am I supposed to do with that?" Riku deadpanned. Facilier grinned, something that made Riku uneasy.

"You don't know what this is, boy?"

"It's an emerald," Riku answered sharply.

"Oh, but this is so much more than that. I got this a long time ago. It can be used to conjure up spirits, either spirits of good health or poisonous spirits of jealousy."

"And why would I want that?" Riku asked again.

"Because," Facilier said slowly, "it was a gift from my friends on the other side. You need it...to enter their world."

Riku's eyes widened. "The Domain of Shadows?" So that emerald...was one of the five objects they needed!

"So," Facilier said, setting the emerald down, and leaning against the table. "Whaddya say to my little deal?"

To Facilier's surprise, Riku nodded. "Sure," he said, stepping forward and holding out his Keyblade.

Facilier looked at him through narrowed eyes. "What are you tryin' to pull, boy?"

"Just take it. We need to find our friends, and we need that emerald, apparently."

His expression still suspicious, Facilier took the Keyblade from Riku's outstretched hand. He held it up to the light, but only for a moment; there was a bright spark of light, and the Keyblade was gone. Eyes flashing in anger, Facilier turned back to Riku. Sure enough, the Keyblade was back in his grasp.

"You don't know much about Keyblades, do you?" Riku quipped, assuming a fighting stance.

Facilier chuckled, a dark, sinister sound that reverberated throughout the long room. He picked up his walking stick from where it was propped against the table and pulled it apart, revealing a long dagger inside. Riku's eyes narrowed. He couldn't say he was surprised, but that still wasn't good.

"Now you're going to find out what happens when you cross the Shadow Man," Facilier said, gathering the hidden dagger in his fist.

Once again, he proved himself unexpectedly spry, leaping at Riku, who was forced to go on the defensive. Facilier's fighting style wasn't unlike that of Sora's; a constant flurry of leaps and blows, whereas Riku was more one to watch, and wait, and strike when he had an opening. Riku was fast, but he could hardly use his speed to his advantage when his opponent stuck so close to him.

Finally, his opportunity came when Facilier bent low to the ground, swiping at Riku's legs with his dagger. Riku jumped to avoid the blow, following it with another swift jump, this time lashing out and kicking Facilier square in the chest. He grunted and stumbled backwards into one of the shelves, knick-knacks falling all over the floor. Riku took another leap back, finally putting some distance between himself and Facilier. The big acrobatic jumps were more Sora's style, not his, but all things considered, that wasn't too bad.

Riku resumed his usual stance as Facilier stumbled to his feet. In the semi-darkness of the room, Riku didn't notice the small leather pouch that Facilier slipped into his pocket, after it fell off the shelf.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to get serious," Facilier said, grinning wickedly.

Riku didn't answer. But then, out of the corner of his eye, there was a quick movement. And then another, above his head. "What did you do?" he growled.

"Just asked my friends for a little help," Facilier shrugged. "Just like you've got your girlies waiting outside."

"They're not coming," Riku bit out.

"Well," Facilier said, "too bad for you, then."

Without warning, two shadows seized either of his arms, and Riku dropped his Keyblade. The shadows weren't quite the same as those that had attacked Destiny Islands, but they were still trouble. They knocked Riku to the ground and leaned over him, claw-like hands ready to pounce, but Riku still had the properties of the Keyblade to his advantage. He quickly summoned it back to his hand, slashing through the shadows. They each let out a brief yell, and then were gone.

Riku quickly clambered back to his feet, Facilier standing right in front of him. The distance Riku had fought so hard to put between them was gone again. "Did you really think that would work!?" Riku snapped, growing frustrated.

"Well, no," Facilier said, "but then again, I just wanted them to distract you." Without warning he'd reached into the leather bag he had grabbed earlier, drawing out a loose powder. Holding out a hand, he blew the strange powder in Riku's face, and for Riku, the room began to spin...

* * *

Outside, Kairi and Naminé were waiting, though Kairi was getting more and more fed up with it every second.

"You know he just doesn't want us to get hurt," Naminé said calmly.

Kairi sighed. "I know. It still makes me mad, though."

They were silent for another few moments. "It's awfully quiet in there," Naminé observed.

Kairi nodded. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing." Just then, though, they heard a crash from inside as, unbeknownst to them, Riku sent Facilier colliding with a shelf on the wall. The girls exchanged startled glances. There was silence again for a brief moment – and then those horrible cries reached their ears, as Riku dispatched Facilier's shadows.

"We've got to go in there!" Kairi burst out, unable to stand there any longer. She burst through the front door, Naminé right behind her, and the scene in front of them was unlike anything they'd been expecting.

There was Riku, standing in front of Facilier, but before they could do anything, he was surrounded by a cloud of smoke, and when it faded, he seemed to have disappeared. But, strangely, his Keyblade would have disappeared then as well, except that it hadn't – it landed on the wooden floor with a clatter, and it was then that they noticed the white rat scurrying away from Facilier and towards them.

Facilier was downright cackling then. Once again, Kairi sprang forward, grabbing Riku's Keyblade and charging toward Facilier with it. Still laughing, he sprang backwards and seized his dagger, engaging Kairi. Her movements were clumsy and wild, and he had no trouble deflecting every one of her blows.

Naminé hurried forward as well, scooping up the rat that she supposed was Riku. "R-Riku!?" she squeaked. She was expecting the rat to nod or blink or something, but it spoke.

"Yeah, unfortunately!" it yelled, in Riku's voice. Naminé gave a little gasp of horror and nearly dropped him. "Watch it!" he scolded. "Don't worry about me, help Kairi!" Indeed, when Naminé looked up, she saw Kairi clearly losing her impromptu battle.

"Kairi!" Naminé cried out, depositing Riku on her shoulder and hurrying forward. She wasn't sure what she could do, but she had to try something.

At Naminé's voice, Facilier looked up, momentarily distracted. His gaze fell on Naminé, and his eyes widened. This was the girl who could travel through darkness, he could tell it in an instant. She was human like the other two, but there was something unnatural and inhuman about her.

"Hey!" Kairi burst out. "Y-you're supposed to be fighting me!"

Facilier spared her a bored glance over his shoulder and snapped his fingers. Immediately, one of his shadow creatures sprang from the ground, twirling itself around Kairi's legs, sending her tumbling backwards among a pile of glass bottles and vials of all sizes and full of all sorts of strange concoctions. The shadow creature kept itself wrapped tightly around Kairi's legs, preventing her from getting back up. Riku's Keyblade lay just out of her reach. In the same instant, a second shadow creature shot towards Naminé. She darted out of the way, but it managed to grab her ankle, sending her and Riku sprawling to the floor. The creature slithered atop of her, pinning her to the floor.

"Get off of me!" Naminé cried, vainly trying to twist out of the thing's grasp.

Facilier sauntered forward, coming to squat in front of Naminé. "Now, now," he said, using the same oily tone he'd used on them before. "You, girlie, are not like your friends here. You're better than they are, actually. Special."

With his attention so focused on Naminé, he didn't notice Kairi continuing to struggle for Riku's Keyblade. Much to her frustration, the shadow creature keeping her in place shot out a spindly arm, knocking the Keyblade further from her.

"Come on," she hissed at the Keyblade through gritted teeth. She wasn't going to just lay here in defeat while her friends needed help! "Just because I'm not Riku - !" And finally, the Keyblade disappeared in a brief flash of light, reappearing in Kairi's grasp.

There was no time to marvel at how it had happened or why it had obeyed her to that extent. She sat up, slashing at the shadow holding her in place, and seized a particularly heavy glass bottle off of the floor.

Meanwhile, Facilier continued to menace Naminé. "Come on, girlie, you don't need these cretins. You stick with me, and we'll put those powers of yours to good use."

"No way!" Naminé shouted.

Riku had scrambled back onto her shoulder. "Leave her alone!" he shouted, but the effect was less than intimidating. Facilier threw his head back and laughed.

"Still a big talker, eh? Next time I'll make you even smaller," he chuckled darkly, easily knocking Riku off of Naminé's shoulder.

"Ri - !" Naminé began, but was abruptly cut off when the shadow creature holding her to the floor reached up and curled one slender hand around her neck.

"You know," Facilier said, mockingly remorseful, "I didn't want it to come to this, girlie. Now - "

But whatever the rest of his next proposition was, they would never know. There was a loud crack and Facilier froze mid-sentence, slumping forward to reveal Kairi standing over him, now-broken glass bottle in one hand and Riku's Keyblade in the other.

The shadow choking Naminé vanished when Facilier lost consciousness and she propped herself up on her elbows, gasping for air. There was a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Riku, his eyes concerned. The spell on him had been broken as well.

"You all right?" he asked, helping her sit up all the way.

Naminé nodded. "I'm fine," she said, her voice a little hoarse. "Glad that...you don't have a tail anymore."

He sighed a bit. "Me too."

"I hope you know," Kairi spoke up, giving Riku a pointed look, "that's the last time you're ever charging in somewhere by yourself."

Satisfied that Naminé was fine, he got to his feet. "Yeah, I know," he said, somewhat grudgingly, as Kairi offered him his Keyblade. He took it and put it back, and his Keyblade disappeared in the quick flash of light. Riku nudged Facilier's unconscious body with his foot. "Let's do something with him."

The two of them dragged him over to one of the chairs at the end of the room, tying him to it with a bit of rope they found among the flotsam of the room. Remembering the whole reason they'd confronted Facilier in the first place, Riku reached into the man's pocket and pulled out the piece of paper with the strange symbol on it.

"What's that?" Naminé asked, having recovered enough to get to her feet and rejoin the others.

"The spell keeping you from opening a Corridor of Darkness," Riku answered, tearing it in half. As he did so, each half of the paper burst into flames, burning in midair until there was nothing left. "Apparently, we're still under the one that keeps us from being tracked."

"So that's it, then?" Kairi asked. "We can go to Twilight Town now, right?"

Riku nodded. "Wait," he frowned, suddenly remembering the strange emerald Facilier had been waving around. Somehow, in the struggle it had ended up halfway across the room. "We need that," he said, pointing to it.

Naminé walked over and picked it up, glass case and all. "This emerald? What's it for?"

"Apparently it's one of the five objects we need to get into the Domain of Shadows," Riku frowned.

"How do we know he wasn't lying?" Naminé wondered.

"We don't," Riku said.

"But we might as well take it, right?" Kairi asked, but her tone was somewhat uneasy. "I mean, what harm could it do?"

Naminé shrugged one shoulder, opening the case and dropping the emerald into her palm. "There's...definitely something special about this. It feels kind of...warm."

"Really?" Kairi asked, coming over to take a closer look at the gem herself. Naminé held it out for her to see, but when Kairi touched the gem with her finger, she yelped and recoiled.

"It – it shocked me or something!" Kairi cried in surprise. At this, Riku came over as well. "See, look!" Kairi exclaimed, thrusting her finger in Riku's face. The tip of it was red, as if she'd burned it.

"It's not hurting me...But what if it's doing it on purpose?" Naminé asked thoughtfully. "I mean, what if...each of these five things are meant for one of us and nobody else?"

"I guess it's possible," Riku frowned.

"So we got lucky finding this one," Kairi said. "I wonder where the others are?"

"Let's start with Twilight Town," Riku said. "Maybe Yen Sid'll know something about it. Or at least maybe he'll know something about Sora and Roxas."

Naminé nodded, holding out a hand to open a Corridor of Darkness, but paused. "Riku, um...Your pants are glowing."

He blinked, but sure enough, there was a golden glow coming from his pants pocket. He pulled out the business card Doctor Facilier had given him; the three leaned in and stared at it. The glow grew more intense and the card vanished into thin air, replaced by strange text that glowed with the same golden color and hovered in midair.

"_The twilight no longer holds your answers. Turn instead to the enchanted night," _it read, hovering a few moments in the air before vanishing.

"What was _that_ one supposed to mean?" Kairi burst out finally. "It sounded like we're not supposed to go to Twilight Town anymore. But what's 'the enchanted night' supposed to be?"

"Maybe it's referring to a different world, instead of Twilight Town," Riku said.

The three were quiet for a moment, puzzling over what sort of world could be described with "enchanted night". Suddenly, though, Naminé gasped. "I just remembered!" she exclaimed. "I remember Xaldin talking about an entire world that was under some enchantment. Maybe that's where we're supposed to go. And maybe they could help us get rid of the enchantment we're under, too!"

Riku shook his head; it was so obvious now. "Of course...it's always night there, too. Naminé, it's a world called Beast's Castle. Think you can get us there?"

Naminé nodded eagerly. She was more than ready to get out of this world. Holding out her hand, it only took a moment of concentration before the mysterious passageway opened in front of her. She smiled wide, pleased with herself. Naminé stepped forward, about to enter the Corridor of Darkness, when she turned back to Riku, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. "You made a pretty cute rat, you know," she said, jumping into the portal before Riku could answer.

"You know...She's right," Kairi giggled, heading into the corridor after Naminé.

Riku just rolled his eyes. "Very funny," he quipped, stepping through the Corridor of Darkness, the three of them ready to face whatever Beast's Castle had in store for them.

* * *

_Notes: So, originally I wasn't planning for anybody to get turned into anything, but when you've got three characters all trying to fight the same guy and you have to keep track of all of them... well, somebody's just bound to get turned into a talking animal. Sorry, Riku. _

_Back to Sora and Roxas next chapter! (Which will hopefully not be as beastly to write as this one was.)_


	6. Hero

**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**

_Chapter Six: Hero_

_Notes: Argh, once again, sorry about the delay on this chapter. I was suddenly swamped with IRL stress these last two weeks, which really sucked up all my creative juices. So, rather than do all of Olympus Coliseum in one long chapter, and take even longer to update, I thought I'd split it into two short-ish chapters. _

_So, New Orleans was fun, but I'm happy to get back to these two. Roxas in particular decided to be really cute this chapter, I don't even know. _

* * *

As it turned out, the quiet and relative peace of Twilight Town was the calm before the storm. The Corridor of Darkness opened, depositing Sora and Roxas at the coliseum gates. Frantic throngs of people rushed past the two of them, towards the gates and the sprawling city beyond. Thick clouds darkened the sky, and there was an ominous feeling in the air, not unlike when Sora and Roxas had fled Destiny Islands.

"Hey, whoa!" Sora exclaimed, as a middle-aged man crashed into him, barely even pausing to look back. "What the heck's going on here!?"

"There're monsters in there!" a woman cried as she hurried past Sora and Roxas, a little boy clutched in her arms.

"Isn't that...the point of this place?" Roxas asked Sora, leaning towards the other to be heard over the din.

Sora shrugged, his expression growing worried. "It might be Heartless or something. We oughta check it out."

Easier said than done, however. People were still swarming out of the coliseum, and Roxas and Sora had to fight their way through. They finally reached the small lobby, which was even more chaotic than the front entranceway. People were bottlenecking in the doorway from the coliseum proper, and again as they struggled to get to the front gates. Over the confused babble of voices, though, there was one Sora and Roxas recognized.

"Sure, just trample on the little guy!"

"Phil!?" Sora shouted, weaving through the crowd in the direction of the voice.

The satyr was pressed up against the wall, nervously eyeing the panicked crowd streaming out of the coliseum. He regarded Sora and Roxas with surprise, then relief.

"Good, it's you two!" He gestured towards the coliseum. "Get in there and do your thing; last I saw, Herc wasn't doing too good!"

"Is it the Heartless?" Sora asked.

"Ha!" Phil barked. "I wish! No, people's _shadows_ started going crazy and attacking everyone!"

Sora and Roxas exchanged alarmed glances. Phil regarded them suspiciously. "That mean somethin' to you?" he demanded.

"Yeah," Sora said, already moving towards the coliseum entrance and gesturing for Roxas to follow. "We'll take care of it. Just try and make sure nobody gets trampled!

"Right! Because clearly, I was built for _crowd control_!" they heard Phil shout in exasperation as they pushed through the crowd. Just before they entered the coliseum itself, there was a thump, and a great metallic clanging as someone bumped into a display shelf and tournament trophies of all shapes and sizes tumbled to the ground. Phil's angry shouting nearly drowned out the confused din.

Sora and Roxas finally made it into the coliseum. Fortunately, it hadn't been a packed house that day, so by then a good deal of the spectators were safely out of the way. But there were shadows swarming everywhere, knocking people to the ground and clawing at them. Hercules was in the thick of it, attempting to get the shadows off of people and keep them away, but with only a sword, it was clearly difficult for him.

"Hey, Herc!" Sora shouted, waving one hand high above his head, his Keyblade already in his other. Hercules could only spare them a surprised glance, as the older woman he was trying to help was still being attacked.

Sora and Roxas glanced at each other, and each took off in different directions. Sora hurried over to where Hercules was still struggling with the shadow, and Roxas ran to get rid of as many of the other shadows he could. As he summoned his Keyblade, it crossed Roxas' mind that they hadn't even had to speak to each other just then. Maybe that's what happens when you hang around with someone you used to be a part of.

Sora dashed over to Hercules, slashing at the shadow attacking the old woman, causing it to vanish. "You okay!?" he asked the woman. She was scratched and bruised all over.

"I-I'm fine," she croaked, as Hercules got her to her feet.

"Sora, what's going on here?!" he exclaimed.

Sora shook his head. "No time to explain now. Me an' Roxas will fight them, you just worry about getting everybody else out of here."

"Are we all doomed?" the woman asked Sora fearfully. "First the sky grew dark, then our shadows started attacking us..."

"Wait," Sora exclaim, turning to Hercules. "So you mean it wasn't like this before?" he asked, gesturing to the dark clouds in the sky.

Hercules shook his head. "No, we had clear skies this morning. Does that mean something?"

"The darker it is outside, the stronger they are!" Sora said. Before Hercules could answer, there was a yelp of pain from behind them, and Sora dashed off to aid the shadows' latest victim.

Hercules glanced skyward. "You heard him, do something about those clouds!" he muttered, before turning and half-carrying the woman out to safety.

Roxas was faring about as well as the rest of them. He hacked and slashed at the shadows, but in the relative darkness, it wasn't long before more would spring up to take their place.

There was a little girl, about three or four years old, being swarmed by two of the creatures. _"Daddy!"_ she wailed, as one pushed her to the ground and the other snaked an arm around her leg. Roxas ran over, slashing through them. He knelt next to the girl, who was crying and dirty, but seemed mostly unharmed.

"Are you okay?" he asked, but she only continued to cry.

"Where's my daddy?" she sobbed.

"Uh..." Blue eyes scanned the coliseum. The spectators still there were scrambling to the exit; no one seemed to be looking for the little girl. Her father had probably gotten out already. But the girl screamed suddenly, pointing behind Roxas. He turned, only to see another shadow slithering along the ground towards them. With no other option available, Roxas scooped up the girl and swiped at the shadow with his other hand. It vanished, but at this rate they'd never be rid of them all. He turned to see Sora in worse shape than Roxas was in; the shadows had seemed to figure out that they couldn't attack the townspeople without getting rid of Sora first. He moved to set the girl down, so he could help Sora, but she squealed in protest and only clutched Roxas tighter.

"H-Hey!" he exclaimed, distracted enough that he didn't notice the young man approach him until it was too late. The guy swung his fist, hitting Roxas square in the jaw. Still holding the girl, he crashed to the ground, momentarily stunned. He looked up at his attacker, and was shocked to realize he was definitely a local.

"W-what's wrong with you!?" Roxas demanded. "I'm trying to _help_!" But even as he said it, he realized there was, indeed, something wrong with the young man that loomed over him. His expression was too passive, and as Roxas got a closer look at him, he noticed with a start the man's eyes were entirely black.

Suddenly, the little girl cried out in fear again, pointing at their attacker's shadow. The edges of his shadow were moving, twitching and writhing grotesquely, not unlike the movement of the shadow creatures themselves. Figuring it was worth a try, Roxas seized his Keyblade and plunged it into the ground where the twisted shadow fell. The now-familiar scream of a destroyed shadow monster pierced the air around them, and the young man collapsed to his knees, dazed but unharmed and no longer under the shadow's control.

But there was no time to attend to him fully. Roxas finally got back to his feet, still holding on to the child, who wouldn't let go anyway, and looked around. By now, Hercules had managed to get nearly all of the remaining spectators out of the coliseum. But there were still shadows there, and what if the shadows managed to get out of the coliseum and into the city?

Just then, though, a beam of sunlight pierced through the thick clouds, and then another, followed by a third, and soon the dark storm clouds were moving away, as if being blown away. The coliseum was bathed in bright sunlight, and finally, the remaining shadows fizzled and shrunk back down to the size of regular shadows.

Hercules, who had been busy escorting a family of six that had been stuck in the nosebleed section, glanced skyward again. "Took you long enough," he muttered.

For now, at least, Olympus Coliseum was safe.

* * *

The last stragglers were escorted out of the coliseum and to the main gates, where they headed for home or met up with family and friends who had come looking for him. The young man who'd become possessed by a shadow monster was still somewhat confused, but his older sister had come to the coliseum to find him when all the commotion started, so she took him home.

And the little girl had gone home, too. When they emerged from the coliseum to the main gate, there had been a man standing there, arguing with Phil. "Look, pal," Phil was saying, "sorry about your kid, but it's dangerous in there!"

"But my daughter's in there!" the man had been shouting. "We got separated, and-!" They'd stopped arguing when the doors opened, and Hercules, Sora, and Roxas emerged, leading the stragglers.

The little girl had continually refused to disentangle herself from Roxas, but when she saw the man, her little face brightened. "Daddy!" she squealed, squirming in excitement in Roxas' arms. He set her down and she ran towards her father on tiny legs.

"Delia!" he cried in relief, scooping her into his arms and holding her tight. "Thank you," he said to Roxas, his eyes wide and earnest. "Thank you so much for looking after her."

Roxas was a little taken aback. Nobody had ever thanked him like that, and he wasn't really sure what to say or do. "Uh, y-you're welcome," he stammered.

The father turned to head back for home. The little girl, Delia, popped up over his shoulder, waving to Roxas. "Bye-bye!" she chirped.

Roxas blinked, but gave a little half-wave anyway. Sora, who had been watching the scene unfold, was grinning from ear-to-ear. "You made a friend!" he said, grabbing Roxas by the shoulder and giving him a little shake. Roxas idly pushed Sora's hand away.

"That was...different," he said.

Sora just smiled. "You saved his kid. Of course he was happy."

Was that what was so weird to Roxas? The fact that he'd saved someone's life? He supposed he'd never done that before.

"This is just _touching_ and all," Phil griped, pushing past the three of them, "but the lobby's a disaster and it's not gonna clean itself up!"

Hercules nodded, crossing his arms and turning to Roxas and Sora. "Not to mention you guys have a lot of explaining to do."

So the four headed back to the lobby; taking a good look at it, Sora let out a low whistle. "You weren't kidding, Phil." In the commotion, all of the tournament trophies had been knocked from the sets of shelves on either side of the room.

"Yeah, at least none of them are broken, I guess," Phil admitted grudgingly, picking up a trophy, examining it, and handing it to Sora to reshelve it. "So what's the deal, why are people's shadows attacking?" he asked.

"There's this in-between world, the Domain of Shadows, which controls shadow, right?" Sora said. "So somebody – or something," he added, remembering with a shudder the claw prints in the courtyard of the Old Mansion, "is messing around there, and making shadows into monsters."

"We've never seen them act like that, though," Roxas frowned.

"So you've fought these before?" Hercules asked.

Roxas nodded. "One other time. That time, they were trying to keep us from getting away by sort of...freezing us with our own shadows."

"And apparently they can jump on people and attack them," Sora said.

"And use people's shadows to control them," Roxas muttered, rubbing his jaw, which still twinged a bit.

"But it's kind of weird, isn't it," Sora said thoughtfully, turning to Roxas. "I mean, on Destiny Islands the shadow monster thingies were trying to keep us from leaving, but here...they didn't care what about us until we started to get in the way. Like, whatever they were doing here had nothing to do with us."

"Why would they have something to do with you in the first place?" Hercules asked.

"There's this old prophecy," Roxas explained. "It says we're supposed to get rid of the shadows and save the worlds."

"So lemme get this straight," Phil began, looking up from the pile of trophies he was inspecting, "some big bad is controlling all of the shadows in all of the worlds...and you two are supposed to stop it? Heh, good luck with that."

Hercules shot Phil a pointed glare, then turned back to Sora and Roxas. "Can we do anything to help?"

Sora and Roxas exchanged glances. "Well..." Sora said, "there might be something here that we need. We're supposed to go to the Domain of Shadows ourselves, but you need five magic objects to get there. And we got a clue leading us here. So we figure one of the items is here, in this world."

"Is that why the shadows attacked?" Hercules asked. "To try and get this...magic object thing?"

Roxas nodded. "Could be."

Just then there was a loud clanging of metal, and they turned to see the pile of fallen trophies on the other side of the room collapse. A shadow monster slithered out from underneath the pile, taking one of the trophies with it.

"Get it, get it!" Phil shouted, as Sora dashed over, Keyblade in hand. "Get it, get it, get it!" The shadow zigzagged frantically about the room, as Sora struggled to keep up with it. Eventually he was close enough to plunge his Keyblade into the shadow, which shriveled away, leaving the trophy behind. Sora picked up the trophy and gaped at the others.

"What the heck was _that_!?" he burst out. "And...what is _this_?!" he added, holding up the trophy. Indeed, it was bizarre-looking. It was dark blue, with spiny handles that made it difficult to hold without hurting oneself. Carved in high relief were three haggard, ugly faces. The figures had no eyes, save for the face in the middle of the trophy, which had one eye in the middle of her forehead. The 'eye' was some sort of gemstone – elliptical, bright gold, with a band of light in the middle of it, giving it a "cat's eye" appearance.

Phil hurried over, taking the trophy from Sora. "That's the trophy for the Goddess of Fate Cup," he said.

"Those faces are the Three Fates," Hercules explained.

Sora made a face. "I hope I never meet them in a dark alley."

"Yeah, keep making fun of them, see what happens," Phil muttered nervously.

"The Three Fates are responsible for the destiny of everybody in this world. Even the gods have to listen to them," Hercules added. "The eye represents the fact that you can't get around destiny."

Roxas was frowning. "Hey, what are all these trophies for, anyway?" he said suddenly.

"You can enter a bunch of tournaments in this world, and show off your fighting skills," Sora said brightly. "Me, Donald, and Goofy have won a few of 'em!" he added proudly.

"Yeah, the _easy_ ones," Phil smirked. Sora's shoulders slumped.

Roxas ignored them, thoughtful. "Why would a shadow want that trophy? I mean, it was on the bottom of the pile."

Sora crossed his arms, pondering as well. "Well...it kinda makes sense, with all this destiny stuff. Like, how this prophecy says we're supposed to either get rid of the shadows or help them along. That's kind of 'destiny', isn't it?"

Roxas didn't answer. "Phil...can I see it?" he asked, gesturing to the trophy. Phil handed over the peculiar award, and Sora came over to peer at it over Roxas' shoulder.

"What are you thinking?" Sora asked eagerly.

Roxas studied the jewel that formed the middle hag's one eye. There was something both mesmerizing and eerie about it, as though it really were watching them somehow. Idly, Roxas reached out and touched it with one finger. To the shock of everyone in the room, the stone gave off a brief, but bright glow.

"What the heck!?" Sora exclaimed.

Roxas' eyes widened, and he suddenly whipped around to face Sora. "What do you think? The size of it – it looks like it could fit in one of those grooves in the fountain at the Old Mansion, doesn't it?"

Sora's mouth fell open. "Y-You're right! And the shadow was trying to take this one trophy..."

"What're you two blabbing about?" Phil demanded.

"Phil – we need this!" Sora said, pointing at the jewel. "I think it's the object we're supposed to find in this world!"

"That's nice. Just go right ahead and yank it out of there willy-nilly," Phil said sarcastically.

"But...we have to have it!" Sora protested.

"Look, kid, I'm sorry, but I've got two words for you – Not. My. Rules!" The other three rolled their eyes, but didn't bother attempting to correct the satyr.

"Okay," Roxas said. "So what do we have to do to get this jewel?"

"We-ell, you've gotta win the tournament," Phil said slowly.

"It'll be dangerous. The Goddess of Fate Cup isn't for beginners," Hercules jumped in.

Roxas and Sora exchanged glances. They'd been expecting to hear that. "We can handle it," Sora said firmly.

"Where do we sign up for this tournament, anyway?" Roxas asked, looking at the others.

Sora turned and grinned. "Actually, we gotta head downstairs."


	7. The Moirae

**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**

_Chapter Seven: The Moirae_

_Notes: This was a really fun chapter overall. It was fun to research (trying to mix the Disney Hercules with actual Greek mythology was interesting), fun to write (the boys decided to be really cute in this chapter as well), and hopefully it's fun to read, too. :] _

* * *

"This is _so_ creepy," Roxas muttered.

Sora shrugged. "Yeah, I guess it is. I dunno – when you said you'd been to this world before, I figured you knew about the Underworld."

Roxas shook his head. "No, all the times I've been here I was, uh, upstairs."

The two of them, indeed, were heading downstairs – down the seemingly endless flight of stairs that connected the Coliseum and the city to the dark and dank Underworld below. Sora found himself staring at Roxas, curious now. He knew very little about Roxas' time in the Organization – a part of him wanted to know, but another part of him was uncertain. Maybe he didn't want to know.

"What're you staring at?"

"Uh..." Well, okay, Sora would ask about it in a different way. "So what worlds have you been to, Roxas?"

Roxas didn't answer at first, thoughtful. "Agrabah," he said first. It was, after all, the first world he'd been sent to, after they'd finished testing him in Twilight Town. "And Beast's Castle, Halloween Town, and this world." Even now, all of Sora's memories after Roxas had been created were in Roxas' head. Everything before that was unknown to him. "And Neverland and Wonderland, but I dunno if you've ever been to either of those."

"No, I have!" Sora nodded enthusiastically. "On my first adventure. That's so cool; I've been to all the worlds you've been to!"

Roxas smirked then, his expression self-deprecating. "Except for the part where you were helping people, and I was following the Organization's orders."

Sora didn't answer for a moment. It was true, after all – Roxas had been on the other side. And maybe he had done terrible things then, like the rest of the Organization had. But, glancing at the blond, as they descended towards the unknown, Sora found it really didn't matter that much to him. "Who cares," he said easily. "That was then, and this is now, right?"

Roxas just blinked at him. Was it really that is easy? Just write it off as "that was then?" Roxas wasn't so sure.

"Yeah, well, 'now' isn't looking so nice," he quipped. As they got further and further down, the darkness around them seemed to grow deeper.

Sora rubbed the back of his neck. "I think we'll be okay," he said. "I mean, last time I was here, with Donald and Goofy, we got rid of Hades, the guy in charge down here." Sora made a face. "He was a real jerk."

"So, this tournament thing – what are we going to have to fight?" Roxas asked.

Sora opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again. "Er...I don't really know, actually."

Roxas frowned. "I thought you'd fought in a couple of these before."

"I did! But...in those tournaments, we had to fight Heartless. But I don't know if there are any Heartless still in this world."

Roxas just turned to look at him, his expression deadpan. "So...we either have to fight Heartless, or...you have no idea what."

Sora chuckled, sheepish. "Aw, we'll be all right, Rox', whatever it is!" With that, he broke into a run down the rest of the stairs.

Roxas stared after him. "D-Did you seriously just call me that!?" he exclaimed finally, hurrying after Sora.

* * *

However, they sobered once they reached the Underworld. Even without Hades around, there was still a sense of dread in the air. There was no turning back for them now; they had to see this tournament through.

"Look, it's Mr. Bigshot Hero!"

Sora and Roxas both turned in the direction of the voice. It was Pain and Panic, watching the two with a sort of curious hostility.

"Who're _they_?" Roxas muttered to Sora.

"Hades' lackeys," Sora answered, walking towards them. He crossed his arms and cocked his head. "You know, you guys were a lot wimpier last time I was here," he said to Pain and Panic. They exchanged uncomfortable glances.

"Well, uh, we kinda run the place now," Pain squeaked. "Since you got rid of - " here he lowered his voice to a whisper, " – You-Know-Who."

"So I guess we owe you one," Panic snickered unpleasantly.

"Good," Sora said without a missing a beat, "because we need to enter a tournament."

At this, Pain and Panic exchanged mischievous glances, which made Roxas rather nervous. Pain gestured to the board behind him, which Roxas realized upon closer inspection that it had the available tournaments listed there. "Well, here ya go – "

"No, we already know which one we want," Sora interrupted. "The Goddess of Fate Cup." Pain and Panic exchanged glances once again, only now they were downright sinister-looking, which Roxas _really_ didn't like.

"Suit yourself," Panic drawled. "But – heh – you might find that things down here have changed since last time, Mr. Bigshot."

Even Sora looked somewhat disturbed by the cryptic warning. With that hanging over their heads, he and Roxas headed away from the Underworld entrance and towards the Underdrome, where tournaments were fought. Roxas spared once last glance back; at the top of the huge staircase, he could see the light coming from the world above. But as they walked towards the Underdrome, the light grew smaller and smaller.

The two headed into the Underdrome and to the large arena where the battles were actually fought. The question of what was next hung heavy in the air. Sora summoned his Keyblade and turned to Roxas, who had done the same.

"...Ready?" Sora asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Roxas muttered. And for a moment, there was nothing to be ready for. Everything around them was eerily quiet – no Heartless, no monsters, nothing. However, fog was beginning to appear around them, slowly at first, but then rapidly becoming much thicker.

"What the heck!?" Sora exclaimed. They could hardly see a thing from their waists down. Suddenly, Roxas froze, and shushed Sora. He'd heard something moving through the fog, he was sure of it. Sora grew still as well, Keyblade held at the ready. Then, there was the sound Roxas had heard again – a rushing sound, as if something was moving quickly through the fog at their feet. Somewhere, hidden in the fog, came a terrible hissing sound.

They remained quiet, waiting for whatever was out there to strike first, when suddenly Sora let out a yelp; Roxas gave him an exasperated look. "I stepped in something wet!" Sora said in protest. "And look!" He lifted his foot, and to Roxas' surprise, the rubber soles of Sora's shoes were growing soft and starting to melt, as if they were being held over a fire.

"I-Is it some kind of poison?" Roxas said. At this, Sora's eyes grew wide, and he reached into his pants pocket with one hand, the other still gripping his Keyblade. He dug out two silver bracelets, tossing one to Roxas and slipping the other over his own wrist.

"What's this for?" Roxas asked.

"It protects against poison, just put it on!" Sora cried. Their voices had attracted the attention of whatever creature it was that lurked in the fog, and no sooner had Roxas put the second bracelet on that the creature finally showed itself.

It emerged from the fog with a roar, straight towards Roxas. He moved out of the way, but the monster still grazed his arm, and Roxas realized that the being's very _body_ was poisonous; the poison shimmered for a moment on his bare arm, then vanished, unable to do any damage thanks to Sora's bracelet. The creature did not descend back into the fog, and they finally had a good look at it.

It was a monstrous snake, with scales of deep crimson that shimmered in the dim light of the arena. Atop its head was a crown-shaped crest. It was a basilisk, the king of serpents. As if sensing that its poisonous body had not had the desired effect, it let out a low, menacing hiss. Yet there was something strange about the way it moved; its nose was held high in the air, and they could see its long, forked tongue frequently darting out of its mouth.

"What's it looking at!?" Sora said.

"I don't think it's _looking_ at anything," Roxas said. "I think it's blind!"

But it could obviously hear and smell exceptionally well. Upon Roxas' assessment, the basilisk straightened, and they could've sworn its mouth twitched upwards in a kind of smile, as if to say, "Just because I can't see you, doesn't mean I can't defeat you!"

"Does it understand what we're saying!?" Roxas exclaimed.

"Sure looks that way!" Sora answered. As if in reply, the basilisk lunged for him, and Sora was barely able to roll out of the way in time. He slipped on a slimy trail of the basilisk's poison, and grimaced. Even if it couldn't harm them, thanks to Sora's charms, it was still going to make the fight more difficult.

Sora and Roxas turned to look at each other. If the basilisk could hear _and_ understand what they were saying, the only way for them to defeat it was not to communicate verbally. It would still be able to hear their footsteps, but at least it wouldn't be able to counter their moves as well. So, they darted towards the basilisk, and the fight began for real.

It was the first time Roxas and Sora had really fought alongside each other; their escape from Destiny Islands had been a matter of simply hacking and slashing through the shadows. Their fighting styles were extraordinarily similar, but that in and of itself wasn't surprising. What was surprising was how difficult it was to fight effectively alongside somewhat who battled as you did. For Sora, he, Donald, and Goofy were a cohesive unit: Donald's magic was perfectly suited for enemies with high defense, and Goofy would stun the rest with his physical attacks, leaving them wide open for Sora to finish off.

Roxas had only ever fought alongside members of Organization XIII, and none of them really fought like any of the others. He'd spent the most time fighting alongside Axel, whose philosophy had been "burn first, ask questions later". He would go in, chakrams blazing, and leave Roxas to clean up the mess, so to speak. But that sort of strategy worked for the large groups of Emblem Heartless they were ordered to eliminate, not a giant snake that threatened to bite their heads off.

And Sora and Roxas' struggle to find some sort of cohesiveness was apparent. Collectively, they'd only managed to put a few dents in the basilisk's thick skin, and its huge tail managed to knock both of them off their feet.

As Roxas fell back into the fog, he got a good glimpse of the thing's fleshy underbelly. Wait a minute...maybe the two of them just going at it should be their strategy. Roxas stumbled back to his feet and saw Sora do the same; their eyes met, and Roxas knew Sora had the same idea he did. They exchanged terse nods and sprang forward again.

And that brief moment of synchronization they'd had back in the Coliseum was back again. Sora went towards the basilisk's tail, slashing at it with its Keyblade. "Hey, Scaly, back here!" he shouted. At the taunt, the basilisk let out an angry hiss, turning towards Sora and lunging for him. This time, Sora was expecting it, easily rolling out of the way. He sprung back to his feet, slashing at the basilisk's face this time. The Keyblade struck it on the nose and it reared back, bleeding.

Then it was Roxas' turn. He attacked the basilisk from the other side, and frantically it swerved to face Roxas. Its fury was making it reckless, which was what Sora and Roxas had been counting on. Sora darted over to Roxas, hoping to strike a final blow. But as he came to stand alongside Roxas, something strange happened – both of their Keyblade began to react and glow. Confused, they both held their Keyblade straight in front of them, and a bright ball of energy issued from the tip of both Keyblades. The energies collided and swirled together, shooting towards the basilisk like an arrow. The blast struck the basilisk on its underside, just under its neck. It let out a terrible scream, and when the light from the blast faded, the basilisk was gone.

"W-What was that?" Roxas breathed finally, staring at his Keyblade.

"I have no clue, but that was _so. AWESOME!_" Sora whooped.

Roxas couldn't help but share his enthusiasm, just a little. "Yeah, but who knows what's next."

Sora nodded vigorously. "Yep." He was worked up now.

Their next foes made their appearance in a manner not unlike that of the basilisk. For a few moments, the arena was quiet, but the fog that had heralded the basilisk's arrival was beginning to dissipate, very slowly at first, but then much faster, as if propelled by some unseen wind. "Hear that?" Sora said quietly, holding his Keyblade at the ready.

Roxas nodded; it was the sound of wings beating in the distance. The sound grew louder and louder, but still, they could not see anything. Suddenly, there was a sharp gust of wind, and they could hear a high-pitched howl that they quickly realized was not caused by the wind. Something large swooped by in a blur of feathers, and Sora was knocked to the ground. He yelped in pain, and Roxas turned to see Sora put a hand to a fresh cut on his cheek.

By now, the sound of beating wings was directly above them. They looked up to behold three bird-like creatures: they were large, about the height of two full-grown men, covered in black feathers. But the most disturbing thing about these monsters was not their size, but their heads. From the neck down, they were completely birdlike. But all three had the head of a woman, with long, stringy hair of a dull greenish color. Their faces were gaunt and ugly. Gazing down at Sora and Roxas, the harpies smirked viciously, knowing that being airborne gave them the advantage. They dove in for the kill.

Sora and Roxas leapt out of the way, struggling to avoid all three of the harpies. "How do we fight something we can't reach!?" Roxas shouted. Sora frowned, thinking, and suddenly his face lit up.

"Duh, we use magic!" he called back. "Cover me, okay?" And suddenly Sora had come to a dead stop, pointing his Keyblade up at the harpies. Roxas skidded to a stop and darted over to Sora, as the harpies noticed he'd stopped moving and swooped in. But then a Fire spell shot from the end of Sora's Keyblade, striking one of the harpies' wings. It let out a pained howl and dropped to the arena floor. Twisting and writhing, it managed to put the fire out, but the damage to its wing was already done. And Roxas was already moving in. He slashed at the harpy, which screamed once more and vanished in a burst of light.

The remaining two harpies looked on in fear, and scattered. The roles were reversed: it was Sora and Roxas chasing after the harpies now. Sora had to be careful; casting magic was extremely draining, and just shooting Fire spells into the air and hoping one found its mark would harm him more than it would the harpies. Not to mention, there had been no occasion lately for Sora to use magic, and his aim was a little off. Eventually, with some patience, their strategy paid off: Sora's Fire spells immobilized the harpies, and Roxas moved in for the final blow.

Finally, the last harpy crashed to the ground, vanishing with a pained scream and a bright flash of light. Roxas leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees, exhausted. This tournament was the most fighting he'd done in a long time. He looked over at Sora, who was still bleeding a little from the cut on his cheek. "How bad did they get you?" Roxas asked.

"Not too bad," Sora said. "I'm..." He trailed off, gaping. It wasn't hard to see what had caught his attention so thoroughly.

A third creature had appeared in the arena with them, and this one was nothing like the others. It had the body of a lion, but the head of a beautiful woman. It sat on its hind legs, long tail swishing lazily behind it. The sphinx made no move to attack, but simply sat there watching Sora and Roxas.

Sora began to dart forward, Keyblade held ready to attack, but Roxas held out an arm to stop him. "The other ones attacked first," Roxas frowned. Besides, he got a much different vibe from the sphinx than from the basilisk or the harpies; there was something much more graceful and much less feral about the sphinx.

To their surprise, the sphinx spoke. "To wait and see is sometimes the wisest course. Had you attacked, I would have bitten your head off."

Sora looked a little bit green at this.

The sphinx smiled in quiet amusement and turned to Roxas. "Your cautiousness will serve you will on the remainder of your journey. Yet, there are times when you must trust your instincts and act."

"So, uh...did we win the tournament?" Sora asked.

"No, I am your final opponent," the sphinx answered. "These tournaments are to test the mettle of heroes. A hero must possess strength of the mind, as well as of the body. I shall give you three riddles. If you answer wrongly, I attack."

Sora and Roxas exchanged alarmed glances. "Okay..." Sora said slowly. "C-Can we have the first riddle, then?"

The sphinx began to speak. "The poor have me, and the rich desire me. The miser spends me and the spendthrift saves me. People fear me more than death. What am I?"

"Er...can we talk about it, or is that against the rules?" Roxas asked. The sphinx merely nodded in reply.

"Aw, man," Sora muttered. "Riku and Kairi would probably be a lot better at this."

Roxas was running through the lines of the riddle over and over in his head. "It's contradictory," he said aloud. "I mean, nothing fits those."

"Yeah," Sora said distractedly, as a thought began to take shape. "Nothing...fits..." he said slowly. He'd been to many worlds, and he'd met all sorts of different people: good, bad, and somewhere in between. But no matter how many people he knew, some things were the same for everyone. He turned excitedly to Roxas. "That's it! It's nothing!"

Roxas gave him a deadpan look. "You lost me."

"The poor have nothing, the rich want nothing," Sora explained. "Misers spend nothing, spendthrifts save nothing. People fear nothing more than death!" He turned to the sphinx. "The answer is 'nothing'."

The sphinx smiled, and nodded. Sora pumped his fist in the air. Roxas couldn't help but grin. "Sora..." he said. "That was _awesome_."

Sora grinned back, and turned once again to the sphinx. "Can we have the second riddle, please?"

The second riddle was much shorter. "Call my name, and I disappear. What am I?"

Sora crossed his arms. "Um, a shy person..." he mumbled. The sphinx cocked her head. "Er, wait, no, that's not my answer!" Sora added quickly, holding up his hands. "Just thinking out loud..."

"But what would disappear when you call for it...?" Roxas said.

"Maybe it's scared of you?" Sora said helplessly. It looked as though there weren't going to be any flashes of genius solving this one. "Or, I dunno, maybe it's something to do with the name – like, if you know its name, you have power over it? There's all kinds of folktales back home like that."

Roxas slowly shook his head. "Or maybe it doesn't have anything to do with the name at all..."

Sora blinked. "Uh, or that," he frowned.

"No, I mean...what if it's not the name that makes it disappear, but the...calling itself?"

"You mean, like, the sound makes it disappear?" Sora asked. "Okay, so, what does sound make...disappear..."

Their eyes met, as the answer came to both of them at the same time.

"It's silence!" Roxas exclaimed, turning back to the sphinx. "Say its name, and silence disappears." Once again, the sphinx merely nodded.

"You have one more riddle to answer," she announced, and then gave them the riddle: "You need me to live, yet you may freely give me to others. I can be your greatest strength or your most glaring weakness. If you break me, I will still work. I am merely one small part of a whole, yet I am sovereign over all."

They were both quiet for a moment, working out the riddle in their heads. "Those are a bunch of contradictions," Sora frowned. "How does it still work after it breaks, for one? And one part ruling over the whole?"

Roxas wasn't sure of the riddle's answer, either, but somehow, he felt sure that he knew the answer, somewhere deep in his mind. "That part's not so weird," he said slowly. "Like a king ruling over his kingdom, you know?"

_Kingdom... _

Of course. "It's...your heart," Roxas said. "That's the answer. It's one part, but...you're not whole without one."

The sphinx nodded once in acknowledgement. "I knew that you, of all people who have attempted to answer my riddles, would discern the answer."

Roxas stiffened. "How do you – " But before he could get the question out, the sphinx had vanished in a burst of bright light. "That was weird," Roxas muttered. Sora looked a little bewildered as well, but he shook it off and grinned widely.

"Yeah, but we did it! I mean, we were _awesome!_" he cheered, slinging an arm around Roxas' shoulders. For once, Roxas didn't shake him off.

"Yeah," he said slowly. "I guess...we were pretty cool, weren't we. So, now what? We get that trophy now, right?"

Sora nodded, leading Roxas out of the arena. "We'll go pick it up from Pain and Panic. And then...uh, I dunno. I guess we figure out what world to go to next."

As soon as they were out of the Underdrome, Sora puffed out his chest and announced, "The _big shots _return!" But Pain and Panic hardly paid him any mind; they were hunched together under the leaderboard. Sora blinked. "Wha-?"

And then they noticed what it was that had Pain and Panic so, well, panicked. Holding the Goddess of Fate trophy were the Three Fates themselves.

"O-oh, hi," Sora stammered.

Just as it had been on the trophy, there was only one eye among the three of them. It was at first in the possession of the tallest one, who had a bluish tint to her skin. She peered at Sora down her long, pointed nose. "Guess this isn't quite a darkened alley, is it," she snickered, and there was a sinister undertone in her voice.

"I-I was totally kidding about that!"

The shortest and stoutest of the Three Fates, who was holding the trophy, nudged her sister. "Give me that eye, I wanna see them too."

The tallest one obliged, popping the single eyeball out of its socket and handing it over. "They call me Lachesis. I'm the one that measures the thread of life of all mortals."

The third sister, who was nearly as tall and gangly as Lachesis, spoke up. "I'm Clotho, who spins the thread of life."

The stoutest fixed her singular eye on Sora and Roxas. "Atropos, at your service." She flashed them a wicked, toothless grin. "I'm the one with the scissors. Snip, snip."

Roxas and Sora exchanged nervous glances. The Three Fates, the Moirae, could not be creepier if they tried. "Uh, can we have that?" Roxas asked hesitantly, gesturing toward the trophy.

"Yes, yes," Atropos answered, holding the trophy out to him. Roxas took it from her, and pointed to the gem in the middle of it.

"Sorry, but, er, we have to take this out," he said.

"There's this prophecy, see – " Sora jumped in, but he was interrupted when the Three Fates burst into laughter.

"Don't you try and tell us about that prophecy, boy," Clotho giggled, "when we wrote it!"

Sora peered at the trophy in Roxas' hands, and made a move to take the gem from the middle.

"Don't touch that!" Lachesis shrieked suddenly, and poor Sora nearly jumped out of his skin.

"W-Why not!?" he exclaimed.

"Only he is meant to," Lachesis answered cryptically, pointing a bony finger at Roxas. Now all eyes were on him. The gem popped easily out of the trophy, and Roxas held it in his palm. It was heavier than he expected it to be, but somehow the weight was familiar and comforting, as if it were anchoring his feet firmly on the ground.

"Neither of you would have come this far without the other," Clotho said. "Remember that."

"Hey, that reminds me," Sora spoke up. "If you guys wrote the prophecy...What's going to happen to Roxas when this is all over?" The Three Fates exchanged glances.

"We cannot say," Atropos said. "The future is not set in stone. The prophecy you're following has two outcomes, after all." She pointed to Roxas. "His future is dependent on his decisions. That is all we can say."

No one said anything at first. It was just more uncertainty, more doubt. But Roxas clenched the gem in his fist, its warmth somehow reminding him he couldn't dwell on that now. "Where do we go next? Can you tell us that much?"

Lachesis nodded. "Journey next to the place of sun and buried – "

Sora groaned loudly. "Oh, come on, we've had enough riddles for one day. Can't you just tell us outright?"

Lachesis wrinkled her nose. "Fine. Go to Agrabah next, you'll find the next gemstone you need. And go back upstairs before you try any of that dark portal business, it won't work down here."

"Great, thanks!" Sora grinned, and he and Roxas turned and ran towards the stairs that would take them back up to the Coliseum and the city.

They looked at the huge staircase with dismay. "This is gonna take forever," Roxas sighed, as they began their climb. They didn't talk as much on the journey up as they had on the journey down. Though, there was one thing bothering Roxas.

"Why'd you ask them?" Roxas asked Sora. "I mean, about what's going to happen to me."

Sora paused for a moment and then shrugged, grinning at Roxas. "I dunno, I kinda like having you around, Rox'."

Roxas scowled. "You're gonna call me that whether I like it or not, aren't you." Sora only stuck out his tongue in reply.

But Roxas found he didn't mind that much, really. After all, you can't go through a life and death situation like the one they'd faced in the Underdrome, and not be friends afterwards.

* * *

_Notes: Just a quick aside, the gem Roxas gets in this chapter is a chrysoberyl cat's eye, a gem said to give the bearer clarity of thought, positive energy, and one source I found even said it bestows a sense of self-worth upon the bearer. I figured Roxas could use those. ;) As a matter of fact, all of the gems the characters find in this fic were chosen specifically with that character in mind, based on properties of the gem. _


	8. Puzzles

**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**

_Chapter 8: Puzzles_

_....Well. Hello again, all! I could give you a whole laundry list of excuses as to why this chapter took a month to get written, but nobody wants to sit through that. _

_Unfortunately, it might be a while before chapter nine is out, as well. As I wrap up my sophomore year of college, I'm probably not going to have much time or energy for writing what with papers and projects and finals. _

_Without further ado, if there's anybody out there still interested in this story, here's chapter eight!_

* * *

Riku, Kairi, and Naminé stood at the end of a long bridge, gazing up at the imposing stone castle that towered above them in the distance. "Er, is that where we're supposed to go?" Kairi asked, pointing at the castle. Riku merely nodded in reply. "Doesn't look that inviting, does it," Kairi murmured. Just then, there was a rumble of thunder in the distance.

"It's better than getting caught out here in a storm," Riku said. The girls had to agree, and the three made their way across the bridge and to the front entrance of the castle. The massive wooden doors were fitted with bronze knockers, but when Riku reached for one, the door creaked open, seemingly of its own accord. The trio exchanged glances, but there was another rumble of thunder, closer this time, and there was nothing left to do but head inside.

They found themselves in a dimly lit foyer, without a soul in sight. "Hello?" Kairi called, her voice echoing off the walls. "Sorry to intrude, but we need some help!"

There was no answer, and Kairi opened her mouth to try again, when Naminé put a finger to her lips. "Do you hear that?" she whispered. Sure enough, they could hear whispers that seemed to be coming from nearby.

"Who's there?" Naminé asked aloud. There was no response, but the whispers ceased immediately. Looking around they saw no one; in fact, the foyer was completely devoid of furniture, save for an ornate hall table that housed a small grandfather clock and a candelabra. "Hello?" Naminé called again. That time there was an answer, in the form of a loud, low growl. A huge, dark shape lumbered down the stairs and toward them, and they found themselves face-to-face with what could only be described as a monster. Riku, Kairi, and Naminé pressed closer together as he towered over them.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" he snarled.

"W-We need some help," Naminé stammered.

"You won't find it here," Beast growled.

"But...we were sort of...told we would," Kairi spoke up.

"You were told WRONG!" he snarled.

By then, Riku had had enough. He summoned his Keyblade, stepping in front of the girls with it. "Would you just listen to us!?" he snapped. Beast hesitated, his gaze falling on the weapon in Riku's hand. Riku looked up at him. "Do you...know what this is?" he said slowly.

"I've known one other person with a weapon like that," Beast muttered.

"Then, you know our friend Sora!" Kairi burst out.

Finally, Beat sighed, the storm over for the moment. "Yes," he said. "I do."

"Ah, there, you see!?" exclaimed a voice behind them. The three turned to behold that the candelabra and grandfather clock that had been sitting on the hall table had seemingly come to life, and were half-walking, half-hopping toward them. Kairi, Naminé, and Riku gaped at them. So, that was what was meant by this world being enchanted. "I told you they were nothing to worry about, they're friends of Sora!" the candelabra told his companion.

"Wow!" Kairi said, squatting in front of them. "I've never seen anything like you guys before. Were you the ones we heard whispering earlier?"

The little grandfather clock cleared his throat. "Indeed, my dear. I apologize sincerely if we startled you, however we so very rarely get visitors in this castle. I am Cogsworth, and this is my colleague – "

Before he could finish, the candelabra had swept him aside. _"Lumiere,"_ he said, bowing smoothly, which made Kairi giggle into her hand. "Ah, forgive me," Lumiere said, turning his gaze to Naminé as well, "but it is such a special occasion to have _three_ beautiful mademoiselles in the castle."

"Three?" Naminé asked. Just then, as if on cue, the Princess of Heart known as Belle hurried down the grand staircase.

"What's going out here?" she asked in alarm, pausing when she noticed Kairi, Riku, and Naminé. "Hello..." she said in confusion, descending the rest of the stairs and coming to stand next to Beast. The fact that he was so much larger than she was seemed not to bother her at all.

Kairi straightened and turned to her. "Hi," she replied. "I'm Kairi, and this is Riku, and Naminé."

"They say they're Sora's friends," Beast explained.

"We _are_ his friends," Riku said, somewhat sourly, "and he might be in trouble. So can you help us or not?"

Beast growled. "Maybe if you do something about that attitude." But Belle had taken the newcomers' side, putting her hands on her hips and giving the Beast a "look".

"Of course we'll help," she said to the three. "Come on, let's go talk in the parlor." The parlor was just off the main foyer, and it was surprisingly small compared to the entrance. But it was cozy, with expensive, plush seating. A fire crackled in the large fireplace, giving the room a warm, comfortable glow. When everyone was seated, Belle spoke up first.

"Now," she began. "You'll have to excuse him," she said, placing a hand on the Beast's arm. He sniffed indignantly in reply, but otherwise ignored her. "We're all a little on edge," Belle continued, "because of...well, something strange happened a few days ago."

"Like what?" Kairi frowned.

"It is, eh...hard to describe," Lumiere piped up, he and Cogsworth having followed the others into the parlor. "Everyone felt as though a very...dark and evil thing passed through the castle."

Belle was nodding. "That's exactly what it was like. No one was hurt, and as far as we can tell, nothing was taken." Riku, Kairi, and Naminé exchanged glances.

"Does that mean something to you?" Beast asked, his arms folded.

"It might. Maybe whoever, or whatever, was in the castle was looking for the same thing we are," Riku said.

"What exactly are you looking for?" the Beast asked then, his expression skeptical and suspicious.

"Well, we don't know _exactly_," Naminé said softly. "Someone is trying to harm all of the worlds, and we need to go to them to stop them. But to get to where they are, we need to collect five objects."

"Five?" Cogsworth spoke up. "I should think, there being only three of you – "

"Sora, and a...fifth friend of ours are the last two," Naminé said.

"And you believe one of these 'objects' is here in the castle," the Beast said. Riku, Kairi, and Naminé glanced to each other, then nodded.

"That's about the gist of it, yes," Kairi shrugged. "So...do you know if there's something like that in the castle?"

The Beast shook his head. "There's nothing like that I can think of," he said shortly, just as Cogsworth cleared his throat as if to speak. There was an awkward pause as all eyes turned to the clock.

"Er, well, the fact of the matter is...the Cogsworth family has served in this castle for generations, you see," he said nervously. "Many years ago, my grandfather told me that somewhere hidden in the castle was a magical object that may someday save the world. C-Could that be what you're after?"

Riku nodded slowly. "It might be."

"Clocks have families?" Kairi whispered to Naminé, who gave a half-shrug in reply.

"Where would something like that be hidden?" Riku continued.

At this, Cogsworth reached up and fiddled with the clock hands on his "face". "That, I don't know."

"Oh, but I know where we could find out!" Belle exclaimed suddenly, jumping to her feet. When the others just looked at her quizzically, she put her hands on her hips. "I mean the library, of course!"

* * *

If the parlor was small and inviting, the library was enormous and imposing. They followed Belle inside, but Naminé paused, awestruck at the sheer amount of books. And she had thought the library in the Old Mansion of Twilight Town was impressive. It would take fifty lifetimes to read all of these books. "This is amazing!" she said, finally shaking herself out of her reverie and hurrying to catch up with the others.

"It really is," Kairi agreed.

Belle smiled, leading them to a few shelves towards the back of the main level. "It is, isn't it?" she said, and they all caught the fond look she gave the Beast.

"So what's back here?" Riku asked, peering at the shelves Belle had stopped at.

"History books," she said cheerfully. "Local history. And I'm quite certain there's a book or two back here about the history of the castle. Let's see..." she said quietly, tracing the spines of the books. "Oh, blueprints!" she said, pulling a large, thin volume off of the shelf. She placed it on one of the large worktables in the library and opened it to a page in the middle. All of them – Beast, Kairi, Riku, Naminé, Lumiere, and Cogsworth – leaned in for a closer look. The blueprints, indeed, looked like normal blueprints.

"Um...does that show any secret passages?" Kairi wondered, though it was fairly obvious that it did not.

There was another awkward clearing of the throat. They all turned their attention to the culprit – Cogsworth. "I don't believe you'll find any secret passages in that particular set of blueprints, I'm afraid."

"Do you know where we might find some, then?" Belle asked patiently.

"Indeed..." Cogsworth said slowly. "I do believe...it should still be there, 'there' being that bookcase, of course."

"This one?" Belle asked, crossing back to the bookcase where she had found the book of blueprints.

Cogsworth nodded. "There ought to be a small, leather journal somewhere in there. It may be a little difficult to find."

"I'll say..." Belle trailed off, examining the books that were crammed so tightly onto the shelf. Finally, she spotted the journal in question, but only because the green ribbon used as a bookmark jutted out among the spines of the larger, thicker books. With some difficulty, Belle wedged the journal out of the bookcase, and flipped it open. "Property of Gustave Depaul," she read aloud. "Is this what you were looking for, Cogsworth?"

"Yes, splendid!" the clock answered excitedly. "Bring it here, dear. This is the private journal of the fellow who designed this castle, many years ago," he explained, as Belle set it down on the table.

Kairi peered at it. "Look at this!" she said, pointing.

There, on the bottom of the first page, was their first clue: _"His Majesty has asked me to construct a wholly secret chamber in which to conceal some sort of mystic item of great importance."_

"Maybe there's something here about where he put the secret chamber," Kairi continued, flipping through the journal's pages. The different sections of the journal chronicled the building of the castle, room by room. There was not much of interest to them there, until they reached the section detailing the library's construction.

"_I am quite pleased with the library so far. It shall surely rival the ballroom in terms of magnificence. It is also where the castle's greatest secrets lie."_ There was a little drawing that seemed to represent the layout of the library there on the page as well, like a doodled blueprint.

"Look, there's a spot circled on his drawing..." Belle noticed, pointing to the drawing. "It looks like...he circled the east wall of the library." In unison, they all turned in that direction.

"Let's check it out," Riku said, and the whole group moved toward the bookcases along the east wall of the library. They spread out, each examining a different section of bookcases, hoping to find the next clue as to the secrets of the castle.

The books Naminé was examining were all volumes on plants – old, thick books with long titles such as, "Masked Killers: Being a Record of Eleven-Hundred Poisonous Plants and How to Avoid Them" that snaked up their spines. So, it was a small, green book that really caught her eye. Stamped on its spine in gold were only two letters: _GP._

"What was the name of the man whose journal we found?" Naminé called to the others.

"Gustave Depaul," Belle answered, the journal still in her hands.

Naminé frowned. So the man's initials were GP...Perhaps there was another clue in this book. She seized it and pulled, but the book did not come all the way out of the shelf. Naminé gave it another sharp tug, and there was a loud click seemingly from deep inside the bookshelf itself. The bookshelf swung open on unseen hinges, revealing a stone passageway.

"I found something!" Naminé cried. Indeed she had. The whole ragtag group gathered around her, and they carefully made their way into the secret passage.

The only light in the cramped, dank passageway came from Lumiere, so the going was slow and cautious. "Be careful," Beast growled. "There might be traps down here."

"Traps?" Naminé repeated in alarm, turning back to face the others. As she did so, her sandal caught on a protruding stone in the floor, and there was a low, grinding sound just behind her. In the dim light, they realized too late that Naminé had inadvertently triggered a trapdoor. She wobbled on the edge of it almost comically for a brief moment, before tumbling backwards. Riku lunged for her, seizing her hand, but his footing wasn't good and he tumbled down the trapdoor with Naminé into the darkness below.

Before the others could do a thing, the stone trapdoor slid shut with a resounding thud.

In the pitch-black passage below, Riku let out a quiet groan, his heart still pounding in his ears. It hadn't been a long fall at all, but the stone floor was unforgiving against his shoulder. It throbbed dully as he pushed himself into a sitting position, but nothing seemed to be dislocated or broken. "Naminé?" he murmured into the darkness. He heard her groan close to him, though he couldn't see her in the total darkness. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I-I think so," she croaked. She had landed on her back, which screamed in protest as she tried to shake off her dizziness and maneuver herself into a sitting position. She was going to be so sore tomorrow.

Above the secret tunnel, Kairi stared in horror at the spot where her friends had disappeared. Though they tried to trigger the trapdoor again, it remained stubbornly shut. "There must be some sort of time delay on it," the Beast grumbled.

Kairi knelt to the floor. "Riku! Naminé! Can you hear me!?" she called. Her voice carried down through the floor to the tunnel where Riku and Naminé sat, still somewhat dazed.

"We're here!" Riku shouted back. "We're fine, the fall wasn't that bad."

Above them, Kairi sighed in relief. "Great, but...t-the door's not opening again!"

"Is there another way out?!" Naminé exclaimed in alarm.

"Excuse me, but what do you see?" That time, it was Cogsworth calling to them from above.

"Nothing!" Riku shouted, somewhat in annoyance. "It's too dark, we can't see anything!" But, as he said it, there was a soft gasp – he turned and saw Naminé drawing the emerald they had taken from New Orleans out of her pocket. It had begun glowing, a very bright light for such a small gem.

"We found a light!" Naminé called up to the others. In the green glow they realized they were in another tunnel, though this one was quite a bit narrower and shorter than the passage they had been in. It looked as though they had only fallen eight feet or so; the Beast would have a hard time navigating a tunnel this small. "There's a tunnel," Naminé continued, "and it slopes down. We can't see where it ends."

"Then it's quite possible you haven't fallen into a trap, and you're supposed to go that way," they heard Cogsworth shout. "Either way...the tunnel should deposit you in the eastern gardens. We'll head that way as well."

"Okay, meet you there!" Riku answered.

"Guys, be careful down there!" they heard Kairi add.

"We will!" Naminé answered, as she and Riku slowly and stiffly got to their feet.

"That was not fun," Riku muttered, rubbing his sore shoulder, as the two started forward deeper into the tunnel.

"I'm sorry," Naminé said quietly. "I should've watched where I was going." Riku blinked at her.

"No, it wasn't your fault," he said, shaking his head. "We're both alright, anyway."

They continued on in silence for a moment before Naminé spoke again. "I wonder if Sora and Roxas getting into trouble like this..."

"They're probably fine."

"Mm," Naminé replied noncommittally, because there was a briskness in Riku's voice that she wasn't sure how to interpret. And some time ago, she probably would have been able to interpret it. Because – what seemed like lifetimes ago now – circumstances had brought them together, beyond their brief meeting at Castle Oblivion.

* * *

_It had not been long after Castle Oblivion. Naminé spent her days then in the Old Mansion of Twilight Town, putting together Sora's memories under DiZ's watchful eye. Riku had been on his own journey then, with King Mickey, until they had been separated by a Heartless attack. DiZ had found Riku, injured, and brought him to the Old Mansion. He had survived, of course, but spent a long time (at least, it had felt like a long time to Riku) regaining his strength. _

_And Naminé, starved for conversation and company, had lied to him. _

"_Tell me about yourself," she had said. "When you were young?" _

"_Why should I?" _

"_Well...I-It would help me make sense of Sora's memories, if I have yours to compare them too," she lied. And because he so wanted Sora to wake up again, he agreed, telling Naminé about the island where he, Sora, and Kairi had grown up; about the town and the little island where they'd spent their summers; about childhood games. Naminé was vaguely uncomfortable about lying to him, but it didn't really hurt anyone. And besides, it wasn't long before Riku was telling her things that had nothing to do with Sora at all. _

_He told her about his family – about the mother that died long before he could remember, about the father whose overprotectiveness Riku had chafed at. _

"_I just wanted to see other worlds," he said tiredly. "It wasn't supposed to turn out this way." _

_Naminé twirled the crayon in her hand. "It'll be okay," she said. "I'm sure of it. As soon as I fix Sora's memories, the two of you will put things right." _

"_You really think so?" _

_Naminé nodded. "Yeah. I-I understand why you wanted to get away." She looked away. "I've...never been allowed to go where I want. I would...I would love to see other worlds, too." She suddenly looked up at Riku, her eyes wide. "Please don't tell DiZ I said that!" _

_Riku shook his head, smiling a bit. "Don't worry, I won't. Maybe...you can come with me and Sora someday." _

"_Really!?" Naminé had squeaked in surprise, squeezing the crayon in her hand so hard it almost broke in two. _

"_Really." _

_When Riku was well again, DiZ had said Riku could help, and that they needed Riku's strength. He didn't say exactly what for, but Riku was eager to do whatever he could to help. Naminé was back to spending all of her time in the white room. She was sure she had lost her conversation partner, and she could've sworn it made her sad, even though she wasn't supposed to be able to feel anything. _

_But, the day after DiZ sent Riku out for the first time, there was a knock at the door to Naminé's room. And there was Riku, standing awkwardly in the hallway._

_He was lonely, too. He just wanted to go home, just wanted everything to be as it was, but he was glad, at the very least, to have a friend in Naminé._

_Things continued much in the same way for months, until the day that Naminé realized in horror that she'd put together all of the memories that she could, but he still would not wake. _

"_What's wrong with Sora!?" Riku had demanded of DiZ. The cloaked man didn't answer at first, seemingly deep in thought. _

"_I was afraid of this," DiZ had answered finally. "We must find Roxas."_

_And Roxas changed everything. _

_Riku was sent out to bring him back to the Old Mansion – alive, of course, but with force if necessary. Naminé was uneasy – just how much danger was Riku really in? _

_The next day, Roxas was in DiZ's hands, safely tucked away in the digital version of Twilight. DiZ called Naminé down to the computer room to see him; she peered at the blonde boy on the computer screen, laughing with his friends – or rather, the friends DiZ had created for him – and she was somewhat perplexed. How could that boy possibly have given Riku any trouble? _

"_Where's Riku?" Naminé asked DiZ. Immediately, he shot her an annoyed glance. _

"_Around," he answered shortly. "Why do you want to know?" _

_Naminé shrugged shyly, almost wishing she hadn't asked. "I just...wanted to say hello."_

"_Riku is busy," DiZ snapped, but Naminé could swear there was something uneasy in his tone. "Unlike you, he understands that we have work to do." He waved her away. "You have Roxas, now finish chaining together Sora's memories." _

_She obeyed and fled back upstairs, simply because she knew she wasn't going to get any further information out of DiZ. But she was certain he was hiding something._

_A day later, Naminé was in the white room, at work on Sora's memories like she was supposed to be, when there was a knock at the door. "Come in!" she called, sitting up straighter in her chair. Surely, it was Riku, coming to talk to her like usual... _

_The door opened and the person standing in the door could not be Riku. They were wearing one of those black cloaks, like Riku had taken to wearing, but this person was much too tall and broad to be Riku. Afraid, Naminé jumped to her feet, bumping the table as she did so. Crayons rolled off the table and onto the floor around her. _

"_W-Who are you?" she asked. The figure did not answer, but removed the hood covering his face. The man standing in the doorway to her room looked frighteningly like Xemnas; his skin was dark and his eyes were yellow, and his long gray hair looked like Xemnas's, as well. Had the Organization found her!? What about DiZ and Riku? And Sora!? _

_Terrified, Naminé backed away from this stranger, stepping on one of the crayons she dropped in the process. It rolled under her foot, and she lost her balance, falling backwards onto the floor. _

"_Naminé!" the man said, and his voice was just like Xemnas's, too, except that just then it had sounded almost...concerned. He hurried over, kneeling next to her, and Naminé was frozen, confused and scared. _

"_Naminé," he said. "It's...me."_

_She gazed into those alien yellow eyes, and something stirred inside of her. And she knew, but she didn't want to believe it. _

"_Riku?" she whispered. _

_He looked away. _

"_W-What happened!?" she cried. _

_He turned back to face her. "Roxas was...really strong. But we needed him. I had to bring him back here. I had to..." As he spoke, Naminé reached up to touch the tanned, time-worn skin, but he turned his head before she could. _

"_I did what I had to do," he whispered. _

_That night, she went down to the computer room and confronted DiZ. "Why did you let him do it?" Naminé demanded. _

_DiZ turned in his chair and gave her a withering look. "I hardly have time for this." _

"_Then just answer my question!" _

_He turned back to the computer screen. "I have no idea what you're blathering about." _

"_I'm talking about Riku," Naminé said, even though she was certain DiZ knew exactly what she was talking about. "He...Is he stuck that way?" _

"_Most likely," DiZ answered absently, as he continued typing away at the massive computer. _

"_And you don't even care!?" Naminé exclaimed. She was never this forward with anyone, least of all DiZ, who had always frightened her somewhat, but she was too angry, too sad for Riku to be afraid. _

_Once again, DiZ swiveled around to face her. "Riku did what was necessary. Now that's quite enough of this, Naminé – " But for once, DiZ was speechless – the Nobody in front of him was crying, her face buried in slender hands, her shoulders trembling. _

"_T-That's quite enough of this silliness, Naminé," DiZ tried again, though he couldn't completely hide the discomfort in his voice. "You...You don't even have a heart." _

_Naminé just shook her head. "I have more of a heart than you do," she sobbed. _

_From then on she'd been nothing but trouble for DiZ and Riku. She finished Sora's memories, as she'd promised, but she went into the virtual Twilight Town, to try and reach Roxas. She only wished he wouldn't end up suffering like Riku had. She'd gone in with little idea of what she could really do, but she had to try. _

* * *

In the present, Riku was still quiet.

"It'll be nice to see them again," Naminé spoke up, trying to get him to say something. "Roxas and Sora, I mean."

"Mm," he grunted again.

Finally, Naminé turned to Riku, her hands on her hips. "What is with you, anyway? Why won't you talk to me?" she asked.

"I am talking to you."

"You know that's not what I mean! I mean, talk like...like, well, how we used to," Naminé said, trailing off, the words sounding silly as soon as they'd left her lips. But they were true, nonetheless; she wanted to be friendly with Riku again. In her heart, that was what she wanted.

Riku had stopped walking and was looking at her strangely. "But you were the one who was so upset with me. About what I had to do with Roxas," he said bluntly. "Wasn't that why you kept messing with the virtual Twilight Town?"

Naminé blinked. He thought...she'd been angry at _him_? "N-No," she said, "that wasn't it! I was upset, even though I guess then I wasn't supposed to be, because I didn't have a heart..." She trailed off again. That wasn't making much sense either. Why had she been upset then? Why had she been so determined to contact Roxas in the virtual Twilight Town? She'd never thought about it before. Normal people, she realized, could talk about that sort of thing in terms of their emotions. 'I was happy, so I did this. I was sad, so I said that.'

But where did that leave her, an ex-Nobody? That was what she had to figure out now.

"I-I was never upset with you," she tried again. "I was sad that you'd had to use your darkness like that. And I was upset at DiZ, because it didn't seem like he cared about any of us. And it wasn't really about Roxas, either – I guess I always knew what was going to happen to the two of us. But there'd already been so much suffering, I just...I thought if I could tell him the truth, somehow, that'd make it easier for him. Only, all I really did was make it worse."

"I see," Riku said slowly.

"I wasn't ever mad at you," Naminé said again, but quieter. "You were my only friend back then." She turned to him and smiled. "And I'm glad that...I get to see your real face again. I always hoped you'd get it back."

Riku wasn't sure what to say to that. The last time they had met, in the Nobody's stronghold in The World That Never Was, she had been insistent that Kairi and Sora wouldn't care about his strange appearance, and he hadn't believed her. After all, it had been Naminé who had alerted Kairi to the true identity of the strange man who looked like Xehanort's Heartless.

"I guess you got what you wanted," he said slowly. "Seeing other worlds, I mean."

Naminé smiled brightly at him, thrilled that he'd remembered that conversation. Together, they pressed on through the dark tunnel.

"How long does this thing go, anyway?" Riku muttered.

Naminé opened her mouth to reply, but something she saw out of the corner of her eye gave her pause. Riku turned and looked at her questioningly.

"I thought I saw..." Naminé said vaguely, turning to the spot that had so caught her attention. She held the glowing emerald, their only source of light, towards the spot. They could make out a narrow, second tunnel branching off in directions unknown.

"Wonder where that leads..." Riku wondered aloud. "Looks like it's only wide enough for one person."

"Then I'll go check it out," Naminé said firmly. She was unsurprised when Riku fixed her with a skeptical look. "I'm the only one who can hold this, remember?" she said, holding up the emerald in her hand. Riku couldn't argue that point.

"I'll just take a quick peek," Naminé said. "It'll be fine." She began to ease her way down the new passageway, Riku hovering near the entrance. After a moment Naminé was gone from sight.

"This doesn't go back that far!" Naminé called from within the darkness. "I can already see the end."

"Is there anything back there?" Riku called back, tensing up. A dead-end tunnel like that... was it a trap?

"No, noth-" Naminé began, but there was a faint clunking sound and Naminé squeaked out a loud, "Ouch!" A few moments later she emerged again, holding the emerald in one hand, and a small, wooden box in the other.

"I tripped over this!" she said, holding the box out to Riku. "It was just sitting there on the ground."

They leaned in, examining the box in Riku's hands. It was fairly small, rectangular in shape, and decorated with diagonal bands of different, intricate lacquered patterns that covered the entire surface. And yet, the box seemed to have no lid, no keyhole – there was no obvious way to open it. When Riku gave it a little shake, they could hear something rattling about inside.

"Do you think...whatever's in there is the object we need?"

Riku nodded slowly. "Or maybe another clue as to where it is."

"Do you...open it with magic?" Naminé frowned.

Riku shrugged, tracing his thumb along the corner of the box. He paused, feeling a tiny gap in the wood, as if two pieces had been fitted together, which was strange because the box had at first appeared to be seamless. He pressed on the spot, and suddenly a strip of wood slid out of place.

"D-Did you break it?" Naminé blinked.

"No, I know what this is!" he answered. "It's a puzzle box – it's made up of pieces like this, and you have to move them all a certain way to get it open. Kairi's dad had one in his study, he showed it to us once when we were kids." He and Sora had been fascinated by the secret box, excitedly listing all of the things they could hide in one, and how they should make their own puzzle box. They'd scrimped and saved their munny for a while to buy the wood, but then spring had turned to summer and they'd spent it all on ice cream, the box idea forgotten.

Naminé marveled at the box, having never seen anything quite like that. "So you can get it open?"

Riku nodded. "...Eventually." He sat down, his back resting against the wall, and gestured for Naminé to do the same. They sat in a companionable silence, as Riku worked at the box in the greenish glow of Naminé's emerald. The box, as it turned out, was made of a series of sliding panels, and only sliding them in certain directions, in a certain order, could open the box. When Riku moved a panel into the correct position, a very faint click could be heard, as the lock was slowly undone. They sat there for quite a while, but Naminé hardly noticed, watching Riku work the puzzle.

Finally, the last panel was pushed into place, and a slightly louder click was heard, pulling Naminé out of her reverie. She exchanged a glance with Riku, who found that he could now slide the lid off.

Inside the box was a jewel, about the same size as the emerald they had taken from Facilier in New Orleans. It was a little difficult to tell in the dim, green light, but the jewel in the box appeared to be a deep red color.

"I hope that's the one you or Kairi are meant to take," Naminé said softly. "We're in a bit of trouble if it's for Sora or Roxas." Riku gave her a deadpan glance. Nonetheless, he gingerly reached out and gave the jewel an experimental poke. Nothing happened.

"Well, it didn't shock you, that's good," Naminé said, as Riku tipped the box over, catching the jewel in his hand. It felt warm in his hand, despite how chilly the dark tunnel was, and it seemed to sparkle a little more.

"Looks like this is what we came here for," he said, smiling at Naminé, who smiled back.

"We oughta get out of here, then!" she said, suddenly realizing how long they had been down in the tunnel. "Kairi's probably worried."

They got to their feet and hurried down the tunnel, ready to get out of the unwelcoming space.

"Hey, Naminé."

"Hm?"

Riku fingered the gemstone in his palm as they walked, then turned to Naminé. "A little while ago...you said you always knew what was going to happen to you and Roxas. But...what about this time? Once we collect all of these, and set things right...what will happen to you and Roxas then?"

Naminé smiled, a little sadly. "I don't know, I really don't. But I...I hope we'll get to stay. I like having a heart."

Riku pocketed the gem he'd found. "...Yeah."

As they walked, the ground beneath their feet gradually sloped upward, until they had to crouch in order not to bump their heads on the ceiling. And just as abruptly as it had opened up, the tunnel came to a complete halt.

"Dead end?" Naminé asked, a little worried. Perhaps in their hurry they'd missed another side tunnel?

Riku was about to reply, when they both heard voices. They sounded distant, but there was no mistaking it – one of the voices was Kairi, calling for them. Quickly, Riku and Naminé reached up and pressed the ceiling directly above their heads. Sure enough, it gave way a little under the pressure, and a few punches later the trap door had opened. Riku and Naminé found themselves in the midst of a beautiful topiary garden, as Cogsworth said they would. Their knuckles were bruised and their clothes were dirty, but it was such a relief to finally be above the ground again, and they drunk in the night air.

At the commotion, Kairi had come hurrying over, and at once she smiled widely at the sight of her friends. "You're okay!" she cried in relief.

* * *

Back inside the parlor, everyone crowded around Riku and the precious stone. In proper lighting, they could see that it was jewel of deep red, with undertones of magenta that shimmered when Riku held it up to the light.

"I think it's a garnet," Kairi said. "It's really pretty."

"So I guess the five objects we need are all jewels," Riku noted, as he held the gem out for the others to examine. No one else had tried touching it, but considering the experience Kairi had had with Naminé's emerald, they had decided it would be best to just leave it be.

"To think, something this ancient and important – in _our_ castle!" Cogsworth was saying excitedly. "Where did you say you found it again?"

"In this alcove off the main passage," Naminé answered. "It was hidden in this little puzzle box, but you should have seen how Riku solved it!"

Riku shrugged, a little embarrassed. "It took me forever," he countered.

"So that's why you were down there so long," Belle said. "We were worried!"

"Where will you go now?" Beast spoke up suddenly, from his spot near the fireplace. It was hard to say which looked more imposing – the large marble fireplace, or the Beast standing in front of it with his arms crossed.

At his words, the room went silent. "I...don't really know," Kairi said finally. "We still don't know where Sora and Roxas are, and we'll need to find whichever magic gem I'm supposed to have." She turned to Naminé and Riku. "What do you think? Any ideas?" But they had none; they even checked Naminé's sketchpad, and there was nothing there besides the messages they had first discovered in New Orleans.

Finally, the Beast stepped forward, though somewhat reluctantly. "I think...I can help," he said slowly. Reaching deep into his cloak, he pulled out a small, handheld mirror. "Only because you're friends of Sora's," he added, somewhat awkwardly thrusting the mirror toward Naminé.

She blinked, but accepted it anyway. "What is this?"

"It's an enchanted mirror. It...shows you anything you ask of it."

"Um..." Naminé glanced to Kairi and Riku, sitting on either side of her. They nodded encouragingly, and Naminé held the mirror up. All she could see was her own reflection. "Please show us where to go next," she said, feeling somewhat silly. But then, much to their surprise, Naminé's reflection grew blurry before fading away entirely, and in its place a series of strange images appeared on the mirror.

The mirror showed them a town at nighttime. But it wasn't just any town: two ugly old witches chatted animatedly near the town well, ghosts flew through the air with abandon, jack-o-lanterns grinned at every corner. The last thing they saw, before the strange images faded away and the looking-glass reverted back to a normal mirror, was a walking, talking, grinning skeleton, dressed in a...suit?

"We're supposed to go _there_?" Kairi gaped, certain that that world would be last on a list of places she'd like to visit.

"Looks like it," Naminé sighed. The world they'd seen looked frightening, but it was the only lead they had, and they couldn't afford to sit around and try to come up with something better. Who knew how Sora and Roxas were faring.

Naminé held the mirror out to the Beast. "Thank you," she said, smiling shyly. "We'll be sure to say hello to Sora for you."

He took the mirror back from her, and nodded a bit awkwardly.

"So do you think you can get us to wherever that place was?" Riku asked Naminé, as the three stood up, ready to take their leave.

"I think I saw enough of it," Naminé nodded.

"Good luck, and be careful," Belle spoke up suddenly, clasping her hands.

"We will," Kairi smiled. "And thanks for all your help!"

"Of course," Belle began, "we – oh!" Just then Naminé opened a Corridor of Darkness, and it was a little startling to see one of those appear in the middle of your parlor.

The three stepped inside, on to the strange new world they'd seen in the Beast's magic mirror, and Kairi turned back to give their hosts a half-wave before the Corridor closed up behind them.


	9. Heroes and Thieves

**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**

Chapter 9: Heroes and Thieves

_...I liiiive! And, uh, yeah. It's a long chapter, so hopefully it was worth the wait? _

_Warnings: violence against SAND. _

_

* * *

_

The Corridor of Darkness deposited them in the middle of the desert, which seemed to stretch out endlessly in all directions, disorienting Sora and Roxas. They quickly gathered their bearings, and set off in the direction they supposed the Cave of Wondres to be. Sora had thrown a longing glance in the direction of the walled city of Agrabah, visible in the haze, wishing he could stop by and see his friends. But he and Roxas had agreed that the powerful object they needed to find was probably in the Cave of Wonders, and it was better to head straight there, no dawdling.

Before long they could make out a dark blot on the shimmering horizon. The Cave of Wonders was easy to spot even from a distance; the mysterious tiger-shaped sand formation that marked the entrance to the cavern was the only landmark in the desert for miles.

"Is it just me, or is it getting darker?" Sora asked as they approached, eyeing the sky in bewilderment.

"No, it's definitely getting darker..." was the reply. The sky had suddenly turned overcast, with thick dark clouds nigh impenetrable by sunlight. It cast an eerie bluish glow over the sandy expanse.

At first the guardian to the Cave of Wonders was completely motionless, but as Sora and Roxas approached, he began to move; at first only slightly, as if the creature were stirring after a long sleep. He became aware of their presence, peering down at the two as they came to a stop before the massive head.

"What business do you have here?" it said suddenly, its deep, booming voice drowning out the desert winds.

Sora cut right to the chase. "We need to find the magic thing in Agrabah that'll help us get into the Domain of Shadows," he said, and the creature eyed him expectantly. "We, uh...kinda figured you would have it?" Sora added.

The massive guardian's whole form rose and fell, as if it had let out a mighty sigh. "You have assumed correctly, and may proceed," it said, opening its mouth wide and holding it open. Side-by-side, Sora and Roxas entered the cave through the guardian's gaping mouth. Once they were inside, the guardian's voice echoed around them.

"You must face an adversary most perilous before you may take the object you seek. If you are victorious, you will leave this cavern with the object you require. If you fail, you will never again see the light of day," it rumbled.

Sora and Roxas exchanged uneasy glances, but there was no turning back now, of course. Before them was a long, steep staircase leading deep into the Cave of Wonders; the steps were made of sand, but they were surprisingly sturdy under their feet.

"This is gonna take forever," Sora sighed, as they began the long descent. "And I guess we're supposed to complete some test here, too."

Roxas was about to answer, when suddenly the stairs beneath their feet were simply no more. And they were falling, hurtling through the darkness, the wind stinging their faces. Roxas braced himself for impact, but just as abruptly as their mad descent began, it ended. They hovered a few inches off the ground for a moment, before they were unceremoniously dumped on the cavern floor. For a minute, Roxas could hear nothing but his heart pounding in his ears, a sound still so alien to him that it drowned out all else. Disoriented, he slowly became aware of Sora trying to get his attention.

"You okay?" Sora was asking, having pushed himself into a sitting position. Giving himself a mental shake, Roxas sat up as well.

"I'm fine," Roxas muttered. "You?"

Sora nodded shakily, his blue eyes wide as dinner plates. "That was _totally_ uncalled-for!" he burst out, glaring up at the ceiling of the cavern as if the guardian could hear them.

Roxas got to his feet, standing still for a moment in case the ceiling was going to collapse or something. "We ought to keep moving," he said to Sora.

"Sure, as soon as my legs are done being jelly!"

* * *

They journeyed down a long, dark passageway for a while, finally emerging in the Cave of Wonders' main treasure chamber, an enormous room stacked nearly to the ceiling with dazzling gold artifacts and gemstones from around the world. Sora and Roxas were momentarily dumbstruck by the sight of it; they'd both been to the Cave of Wonders more than a few times, but the sheer size of it and the numerous treasures never ceased to amaze.

"I wonder if the thing we're after is in all of this," Roxas frowned. Sora made a face. Searching through all of this treasure could take days – the chamber was looking more like a landfill and less like a fantastic treasure hold every second.

"I hope not," Sora said, beginning to walk through the chamber. "And I mean, what about whatever thing we're supposed to face? Maybe it's in some separate room neither of us has ever seen before. We oughta poke around for a while and see what we can find."

Roxas nodded. It was as good a plan as any, and much better than digging through all of that treasure piece by piece.

The Cave of Wonders was completely silent, save for the sounds of their footsteps as they began to venture deeper into the cavern. Nervously, Sora began to whistle, stopping only when he noticed the deadpan look Roxas was giving him.

"...Really?" Roxas asked.

"What! I'm getting the creeps down here!" Sora protested.

But by then Roxas was only half-listening. "Shh!"

"Alright, alright, I'll stop whistling, sheesh," Sora grumbled.

"No, no, I thought I heard something..."

At this, Sora fell quiet, listening intently. It was soon apparent that Roxas had indeed heard something unusual – every few seconds, there was a clattering sound. As they moved through the heaps of treasure in the direction of the sound, they could hear a voice, faintly muttering.

"Who's there!" Roxas called out. There was a startled shriek and a huge clanging and clattering. They hurried in the direction of the sound. To their surprise, half-buried among piles of treasure, was a girl, about their age.

"What's the big idea!" she shrieked, brushing her long black hair out of her eyes. "I was just – " She stopped dead upon seeing Roxas and Sora, her eyes wide. She clambered to her feet and darted toward them – at least, she would have, if she hadn't tripped over a particularly large golden chalice, falling face-first onto the rough surface of the floor. But even that didn't seem to deter her much. The strange girl lifted her head up, looking up at Sora and Roxas, and shouted hopefully, "Rescuers!"

For a minute Sora and Roxas could only stare at the girl, dumbfounded.

"Uh...what?" Sora said finally. At this, she sat up, gazing up at them, crestfallen.

"You...aren't here to rescue me?"

"No..." Sora began, glancing at Roxas, who only shrugged in reply. "What would you need rescuing from, anyway?"

Wordlessly, the girl held up her arms, and it was then that the boys noticed the iron shackles around her wrists; when she stretched out her legs, they noticed the shackles on her ankles, as well. Sora, who'd never been able to turn a blind eye to someone in any kind of peril, stared in horror.

"Who did that to you!" he asked, crouching in front of her.

"This...this _place_!" she said, gesturing wildly. "It was so stupid – my friends told me to go in the Cave of Wonders. It was just a stupid dare, and I wasn't going to touch anything, I _swear_, but I've got three little brothers and sisters, and it's tough for my parents, you know? There was this one gold necklace, and all I did was pick it up, for crying out loud, and everything just went crazy. The ground was shaking, and I could hear this awful roaring, and I think I must have passed out. When I came to, I had these," she said, gesturing to the shackles on her wrists and ankles. "I've been stuck here ever since. I can wander around the cave, but I can't leave."

"That's _awful_," Sora said solemnly. "How long have you been down here?"

She shook her head vigorously. "I-I don't know for sure. But it's been a really long time, I know that much."

"What do you do for food!" Sora exclaimed. There wasn't anything to eat in the Cave of Wonders, unless there was some kind of well-stocked grocery he'd never seen before. Although, he supposed, he'd seen weirder things in all his travels.

"For some reason, I don't get hungry or hot or cold or anything," the girl said, her eyes welling with tears. "I think that's how I'm being punished. I'll be stuck here forever, just like this."

"And nobody's ever tried to help you before?" Sora asked, still appalled at the harshness of the punishment the cave's guardian had doled out.

She shrugged, rubbing her eyes. "Not a lot of people go into the Cave of Wonders in the first place. And I don't always see the ones that do. The rooms and the layout changes depending on who comes in and what they're here for."

"Hey, I didn't know that," Sora was saying, but an idea was already forming in Roxas's mind.

"So, you know this place pretty well by now, right?" he asked, crouching in front of the girl alongside Sora. She nodded.

"Okay, then. You help us find what we're looking for, and we'll see if we can't help you get out of here. How's that sound?" Roxas said.

The prisoner looked at him with wide eyes, shining with sudden hope. "Really!" she squeaked. "I thought you said you weren't here to help me!"

"Well, I mean..." Roxas just shrugged. "We're not, but it doesn't meant we _can't_ help."

Grinning, the girl hopped to her feet, full of energy. "Okay, let's get to it!" she chirped, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "What are you guys looking for?"

"Uh, we dunno exactly, but it's probably some kind of gem, about this big," Sora pinched his fingers together.

The girl put one hand on her hips, and with her free arm, made a sweeping gesture towards the piles of treasure behind her. "What do you need me for, just start digging!"

"It also apparently hurts anyone who touches it who isn't _meant_ to touch it," Roxas said. "And it was probably stolen by some kind of evil force recently."

At this, their mysterious companion tucked a fist under her chin. "Now that's more like it," she said. "I don't think I've ever come across anything like that...and I sort the treasure in here when I get bored. And I am bored most of the time."

"It's probably off by itself?" Roxas offered. "And probably guarded by something dangerous?"

"Well, this whole stinking cave is dangerous, but...I think I might know what you're talking about. Should we get a move on?" With that, she began to lead them deeper into the Cave of Wonders, towards the back of the grand treasure room. "Oh, I'm Safiya, by the way," she said, turning back and flashing the boys a smile. "Though my friends call me Safi. At least, they used to..." she trailed off, her smile fading.

"I'm Sora, and this is Roxas," Sora chirped. "And don't worry, we'll have you back to your friends in no time."

Safi gave them another bright smile. "'Kay, I'm holding you to that!"

She led them much deeper into the cave, finally stopping in a large open area. Along the walls of this area were open doorways leading into much smaller rooms. Somehow, this place was even quieter than the rest of the cavern, making the three adventurers rather nervous.

"This is the really, _really_ dangerous part," Safi whispered. "Your item is bound to be in one of these rooms."

"But which one?" Roxas frowned. It'd still take a while to get through each room, especially if each was as dangerous as Safi seemed to imply...But Sora was walking away, towards one of the rooms. "Uh, Sora...?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, I just have a feeling. Let's try this one first." The three headed into the room, which was empty, save for a large pile of sand along the back wall. Safi eyed the pile intently, but to Sora and Roxas, it looked exactly the same as any other pile of sand they had come across so far in Agrabah. Roxas glanced at the girl, a flicker of doubt entering his mind. Though it was Sora who finally spoke the obvious.

"I had this feeling it'd be in here, and I kind of still do, but, um...this is a big pile of sand."

"Well, _thanks_ for that," Safi drawled, "but I'm pretty sure this jewel thing you guys want is in this pile of sand."

Roxas and Sora exchanged glances. If that were true, then presumably the gem Sora was meant to have was buried in that pile, since Roxas already had his. Meaning there was nothing for Sora to do but stick his hand in that pile and see what happened.

"There you two go again," Safi said suddenly. "With your...telepathic twin-talk. _Are_ you guys twins? You sure look it."

"Something like that," Roxas said distractedly. Though he supposed she did have a point – he and Sora _were_ getting pretty good at discerning what the other was thinking. But as Sora began digging through that pile of sand, Roxas was more preoccupied with whatever horrible thing might come springing forth.

Sora dug his fingers through the warm sand, guarded and ready to summon his Keyblade at a moment's notice. His fingers brushed against something smooth and hard. "I think I found it!" he said, but before he could close his hand around the object, he was suddenly flung out of the sand pile and halfway across the room. He landed hard on his back and sat there for a moment, dazed.

"Sora!" Roxas darted over to the other, crouching next to him.

"I'm all right," Sora mumbled, his back throbbing. He was going to be paying for that one tomorrow. If he even _made_ it to tomorrow; as he spoke, the pile of sand was seemingly coming to life. It stretched to nearly eight feet tall, and long arms grew out of the sand-creature's sides. Indentations in its "face" served as eyes and a mouth. Sora and Roxas scrambled to their feet, Keyblades ready, as the monster let out a growl and began to glide across the floor towards them.

Safi, who was eager to get out of the way, dashed over to the archway leading out of the room and clung to the wall, peeking in at the scene before her. "Guys, I think he's got that jewel you want!" she cried, pointing at the monster's face.

Sora glanced to her when he heard her shout, then followed the direction of her finger. Sure enough, embedded deep in the sand-creature's forehead was a gemstone, rectangular in shape, with a deep gold color that sparkled when the light hit it. "I think we can beat this thing if I can grab that!" he called over to Roxas, pointing at the jewel.

Roxas nodded. "Guess this is the adversary we have to face!" he said as he darted forward. The thing swung a heavy arm at him; Roxas barely had time to drop to the floor and avoid the blow. He could hear a _whoosh_ as the arm passed through the air only a few inches above his head. But swinging its arms around wildly seemed to be the thing's only attack. If they could disable the arms, there'd be nothing to it. Roxas rolled back and jumped back into a standing position, so that he was standing behind the monster. He leapt forward, Keyblade above his head, and lopped off the monster's arm.

Sora, who had been busy dealing with the other arm, looked over and cheered. But Roxas did not take his eyes off the sand-monster. It hardly seemed perturbed about losing an arm, which made Roxas a little nervous.

All of a sudden he was hit in the stomach – hard enough that the edges of his vision flickered. The force of the blow knocked him clean on his back, leaving him dazed. He heard Safi scream and Sora shout his name somewhere in the distance, and in an instant Roxas felt Sora's hand gripping his shoulder. He shook his head, pushing aside the pain fogging his mind, and realized what he'd been hit by – the monster had merely grown another arm to replace the one Roxas had cut off.

"How the heck are we supposed to fight this thing!" Sora exclaimed, helping Roxas to his feet. He had a feeling the jewel in the thing's forehead was the source of its power, but simply running up and grabbing it was out of the question, what with those long arms keeping him from getting close. For the moment the monster simply sat and watched them, aware of the same thing as Sora – they were at a standoff.

"H-Hey!" came a small voice. Sora turned to see Safi standing just inside the room, anxiously eyeing the monster. It had turned its attention to the girl as well.

"Safi, what are you doing!" Sora exclaimed, as he and Roxas inched towards her, wary of making any sudden movements.

"I-I think I found something that might help," she said to them, although she never took her eyes off of the sand-creature. In her hands was an ornate blue glass bottle, filled with some sort of liquid.

"What is it?" Roxas asked, keeping his voice quiet.

"I'm pretty sure it's the essence of water. If he's made of sand, then maybe water will weaken him."

At Safi's explanation, the monster reared back and lunged for her; either it had understood her words or it was simply tired of just standing there. Safi shrieked in fear, tossing the glass bottle towards Sora and Roxas and making a mad dash back for the relative safety of the doorway. Sora dove for the bottle, just as the sand-creature shot both its massive arms towards Sora and the bottle, making the mistake of turning its attention completely away from Roxas. Keyblade in hand, Roxas dashed forward, slicing both ends of the creature's arms off. At least this time, though, he was ready for it to regenerate itself.

Clutching the bottle, Sora scrambled to his feet before the thing could attack. "Let's give this a try, hm?" he said, pulling the stopper out of the bottle, and was greeted with the scent of the air back home after a sudden summer rainstorm. But there was an awful lot of sand and only a little bit of water. Would this little bottle really do that much?

There was nothing to do but try it anyway. The monster slid along the ground closer to them, reaching for the bottle with one of its long arms. Sora gave the bottle a little flick, and to his shock, a whole wave of water seemed to erupt from the bottle's opening. The water touched the tip of the creature's bulbous hand and began snaking up its the arm, the sand darkening as it absorbed the water. They watched as the monster began flailing its arm wildly, as if to shake the water off. But the added water had made the limb heavy and removed all of its elasticity. The creature could barely do a thing with the arm.

Roxas leapt forward and with a wet crunch, sliced through the water-laden arm where it connected with the rest of the creature. The appendage landed on the floor with a wet thud. No one moved for a moment, as the monster turned towards the place where its arm had been. One thing was clear – the water had weakened the monster to the point that it could no longer regenerate its limbs. With a smirk Sora gave the powerful bottle another shake, and another wave shot out the tip, drenching the sand-monster. It let out a roar of frustration and began to jerk wildly, in a futile effort to remove the water, but it was no use. The liquid seeped into every pore and soon the creature could barely move, unable to support its own weight.

Sora strolled forward and reached for the jewel still embedded in the monster's forehead. "I'll take that, thanks," he said, plucking the jewel out of the damp sand. Instantly, the monster collapsed into a pile of wet sand.

"_Wow!"_ came the cry from the doorway, and Safi darted in, eyes wide. "That was...that was _awesome_, you guys are awesome!"

"Well, we couldn't have done it without you!" Sora grinned. "Where'd you find that bottle, anyway?"

Safi shrugged. "Out in all that junk," she said, gesturing to the open hallway outside the room they were in. Indeed, there was a mixed assortment of interesting-looking artifacts strewn on just about every floor in this place. "So, is that the thing you were after?" she asked, pointing at the jewel in Sora's hand.

He nodded. It felt solid and slightly warm in his hand, and there was a faint glow to it, as well.

"Ooh, I think that's a topaz," Safi said. "They make for pretty powerful amulets. And apparently they create their own light."

Which was fitting, Roxas thought idly. Of course Sora was meant to end up with the stone that could create its own light. He didn't know of anyone more optimistic than Sora.

"So I guess it's about time to get out of here, huh?" Sora said, shaking Roxas out of his reverie. "And we need to figure out how to get you out of here, too," he added, looking at Safi.

"Let's head back to where we came in. Maybe the guardian put the stairs back for us," Roxas suggested. So the three headed back towards the entrance of the cave, the gemstone secure in Sora's pocket.

Strangely, though, when they reached the point where they had been so unceremoniously dumped before, there was no obvious way back up and out of the Cave of Wonders.

"What the heck?" Sora exclaimed, craning his neck at the spot where they had come in. "I thought we'd be able to leave." He turned to Roxas. "That's what the...big tiger head said, right? After we fight whatever it is guarding the thing, then we'd be able to leave."

"Could it have something to do with Safi?" Roxas said slowly. At this, both Sora and Safi turned to look at him – Sora's expression startled and confused, Safi's a little angry and hurt. Roxas put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I'm just saying, maybe since we're trying to take you with us, it won't let us leave."

Safi sighed, considering this. "Yeah...you've got a point, there."

Sora frowned. "Well," he began, brightening immediately and turning to Safi, "we promised we'd help you get out, so we'll just have to come up with something else."

She didn't look entirely convinced, giving him a wan smile. "Thanks, Sora. You're a good guy."

But the nagging, anxious feeling in the back of Roxas's mind was back in full force. Either the Cave was stopping them from leaving on purpose, maybe because they had Safiya with them, or – and it was a far-fetched thought – perhaps they had yet to face their "dangerous adversary" after all.

"You know, there is one thing we could try..." Safi said slowly.

"What's that?" Sora asked immediately, but Roxas was quiet, wary.

"Well, I mean...my father's always telling us kids stories. My favorite one is this beautiful romance, where the prince – well, whatever. The point of the story is, how powerful a promise is."

"What do you mean?" Roxas asked slowly.

"Maybe, if you promise to help me – and I mean, really _vow_ to do it – that might be powerful enough on its own to break whatever spell is keeping me here," she shrugged, raising her arms once again and nodding toward the mysterious shackles on her wrists.

"Okay," Sora chirped. "Why not?" He turned to the girl. "So, do we just shake on it...?"

She giggled a bit, holding out her hand. "Sure, let's try it."

Sora reached out with his own hand, but Roxas reached out, knocking Sora's hand away.

"What gives!" Sora blinked at him. Safi turned to Roxas, and for the briefest moment he swore something dangerous flickered in her eyes.

"Look," Roxas began, more wary than ever. "What if we try this and there's some kind of awful side effect?"

"It's just a story, Roxas!" Safi said, arranging her expression into an amused one.

"Yeah, well, what if it's not?" Roxas countered. "Let's just...slow down a minute before we rush in to something." He turned to Sora. _Just listen to me. I've got a really bad feeling about this,_ he pleaded silently.

Finally, Sora nodded. "Roxas has a point."

"It's just a handshake, though!" Safi said, her tone growing exasperated. "You guys said you'd help me, didn't you?"

The uneasy feeling continued to bubble up in the pit of Roxas's stomach. "You know, it was really convenient that you knew where our jewel was," he said slowly.

"Wha – well, yeah, I spend a lot of time wandering around down here, you know!"

Roxas's eyes narrowed. "And it was pretty convenient that you had exactly what we needed to beat that sand thing back there."

"I told you, it was there on the floor! And listen, mister, enough of these thinly-veiled accusations of yours. Exactly what are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that sand-monster wasn't our test at all. _You're_ our test, aren't you?"

"_What?"_ Sora exclaimed, but neither really paid him much mind. Safi only stared at Roxas, agape, tears welling in her eyes.

"I can't believe you'd actually..." she stuttered.

"Seriously, Roxas, what the heck!" Sora exclaimed, but despite the hurt expression on Safi's face, he was growing uneasy as well. Roxas had some valid points.

Roxas said nothing but remained firm. He was sure he was right.

"Y-you actually..." Safi continued to stutter, but she saw Roxas was completely unmoved. "You actually saw through me," she sighed finally. "I guess I should've known you'd be a challenge, Roxas. You haven't really had that heart long enough to be taken in by it."

At this, Roxas threw his hands in the air. "Does _everybody_ know about me!"

But Sora was hardly listening, his blood cold in his veins. "He...is he right!" he demanded of Safiya. She turned her attention to him, giving him a pouty smile.

"Oh, _Sora._ You and that bleeding heart of yours. It's gonna get you into real trouble someday," she said. The shackles vanished from her wrists and ankles, and somehow she seemed to grow taller, older. In that moment, Roxas and Sora both had the feeling that she had been tricking people like this for centuries.

Sora shook his head in disbelief. "I...thought you were for real."

"Yes, well, that was the point, wasn't it?" came the poison-laced answer.

With a familiar flash of light, Roxas summoned his Keyblade. "So, what, do we fight you now?" he asked, more than eager to get out of this place and away from this woman.

"No," she said boredly. "Now that you've figured out my game, I can't do anything else to you. You're free to go, and all that. You really are lucky you ran into me and not something else."

"Something else?" Roxas asked, refusing to put his Keyblade away. "Like what?"

"Let's just say that you and your friends are getting awfully close to getting into the Domain of Shadows. And he doesn't like that, not at all."

"He? So it's a 'he' behind all this?" Roxas demanded.

"Oh, me and my big mouth," Safiya pouted. As she spoke, she reached into her pocket; for what, Sora and Roxas didn't know, but they weren't about to take any chances. Roxas lunged for her, but she'd yanked a small glass vial from her pocket. She threw it to the ground and there was the high-pitched shattering of breaking glass, and blue smoke suddenly gusted forth from the vial, engulfing Sora and Roxas in it and accosting them with its acrid scent.

The ground became sand, soft under their feet, and a gust of hot air blew the remaining smoke away. When it fully cleared, they were in the desert outside of Agrabah. Behind them, the guardian of the Cave of Wonders was sinking back into the sand, to await its next visitor.

"You...still got the jewel?" Roxas asked.

Sora thrusted a hand into his pocket. "Y-Yeah."

Roxas nodded in satisfaction, but it quickly occurred there was nothing to be satisfied about. So they had one gemstone each, but what else could be done without Naminé, Riku, and Kairi? Sora was gazing towards Agrabah with a blank expression, also at a loss as to what to do.

"Let's just head back for Agrabah for now," Roxas frowned.

"Yeah," was the singular reply.

Sora was clearly bothered by what had transpired down in the Cave of Wonders, and Roxas thought he'd like to say something to the other, but he was at an utter loss as to what to say. He turned over the words in his mind, but each phrase sounded more trite and cheap than the last, so eventually he just gave up, and they trekked on in silence.

"D'you hear that?" Roxas said suddenly after a while, stopping in his tracks.

"Hear wha – " But Sora could hear it, too; it sounded like someone calling out. The sound was very faint at first, barely audible over the wind blowing through the desert, but it quickly grew louder and louder. Something large and bright blue came shooting between the two of them.

"Genie!" Sora exclaimed as the blur came to a halt in front of them. "Don't scare people like that!"

Genie hovered a little above the two, beaming at them. "I thought I recognized a couple of spiky heads – " He paused mid-sentence, really taking in the sight of the two. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, pulling a pair of comically thick glasses seemingly out of nowhere and putting them on, blinking owlishly at the two. "Am I seeing double, or what? Geez, you two could pass for twins! _Are _you twins?" At this, he leaned so far towards Roxas that Roxas had to lean back.

"Because that just wouldn't be cool," Genie said to Roxas, "if you were related to Sora that whole time you were skulking around Agrabah!"

Roxas waved him away. "We're sort of related, but not like...family. I'm Sora's, uh...ex-Nobody."

Sora watched the whole exchange with some confusion. "You guys have met?" he asked. He had brightened considerably at the sight of an old friend.

"Yeah," Roxas answered easily. He jerked a thumb towards Genie. "He was always bugging me when I came here on missions."

"Well, _geez_!" Genie huffed. "If that's how you feel, I'm going over here!" He disappeared in an ostentatious puff of smoke and reappeared a few feet over, in front of Sora. "So whatcha doing here? Visiting Al?"

Sora shook his head. "I wanted to go see Aladdin, but we kinda came here on business."

"Ooh, business. What kinda business?"

"You know anything about the Domain of Shadows?" Roxas asked slowly.

Genie "sat" hovering in midair, legs crossed, suddenly thoughtful. "Oh, you're off to set that right, huh?

"You know what's going on there?" Sora asked.

"Oh yeah, yeah," Genie said nonchalantly. "I hope you guys can get that taken care of, the Shadow Enchantress is just lovely, I helped her redecorate a couple of millennia ago, the color scheme she was using was just awful – "

"Do you know who or what's behind it?" Roxas interrupted.

"Oh." Genie blinked. "Nope, can't help you there. Oh, but wait, how else could I help you?"

Roxas shrugged. "I dunno. We...already got what we came here for, in the Cave of Wonders."

"Aw, my old turf! Too bad I missed you earlier, I coulda helped you out!"

Sora scowled at this. "Oh, we had _help_."

Genie winced. The Cave of Wonders was home to a host of mystical creatures – some of them there against their will, some of them sent there to protect its secrets. But almost all of them were terribly unpleasant to deal with. "Uh-oh, who'd you bump into?"

"She said her name was Safiya," Roxas frowned.

"She's the _worst_!" Genie practically squealed. "Ooh, I bet she wanted your hearts, she's always snacking on hearts – "

"_That's_ what she does? Eats hearts?" Roxas gaped.

Genie nodded, screwing up his face in disgust for emphasis. "Good thing you guys figured her out!"

"Good thing _Roxas_ did," Sora spoke up, his mood sour again. With that he turned away from the others and started walking towards Agrabah, as if he could not be away from the Cave of Wonders fast enough. Genie and Roxas exchange glances, Genie shrugging as if to say, 'don't look at me.' Roxas sighed a bit and hurried over to Sora, stumbling a little in the sand.

"Sora, it's not a big deal," Roxas said, his tone a little exasperated. "No harm, no foul, right?"

"Well, yeah, this time, but what about next time?" Sora burst out, turning to face Roxas. He sighed and stared at the ground. "I just...feel like an idiot."

"You're not an idiot for wanting to _help_ people!" Roxas countered. "Come on, have you ever been somewhere and _not_ made a friend? Just because being friendly didn't work one time doesn't mean you're stupid or you have to change or something. I mean, sometimes I wish I could trust people like you can..." He trailed off, feeling sheepish. That was a little more than he wanted to reveal.

Sora was just staring at him. "Uh...you do?"

"Well, yeah."

Sora frowned a little considering this. "Well...we trust each other, right? That's a start, isn't it?"

Roxas just smiled and shook his head. "Yeah, it is." At least they were off the subject of Safiya.

"You know, I hate to interrupt the therapy session, but can I zap you two anywhere you need to go or something? It's getting pretty late," Genie spoke up, gesturing to the sky, now awash with brilliant hues of red and pink. "And boy is it chilly in the desert at night, maybe I oughta get out my parka..." He yanked a large suitcase seemingly out of nowhere, popped it open, and began digging through the contents.

Sora turned to Roxas, leaving Genie to his antics. "Yeah, I dunno. There's not really much we can do until we get in touch with the others, huh? And we still have no idea where they are."

"Maybe...we ought to head to Yen Sid's again," Roxas suggested slowly. "Maybe the King's been to see him again or something."

Sora wrinkled his nose at the thought. "Yeah, 'cause that went so well last time."

"I know, I know. I mean...I know I really blew up last time, but – "

Sora blinked. "You? Come on, Roxas, what did you do? Yen Sid was the one who was a total jerk to you! But yeah, I can't really think of where else to go," he added resignedly. Roxas couldn't think of anything to add, somewhat taken aback by how quickly Sora had jumped to his defense.

"Aw...so you don't need my help?" Genie piped up suddenly. When they turned, he was wearing a comically oversized parka, complete with furry hood.

Sora grinned, shaking his head a bit. "No, afraid not. Not this time." He turned to Roxas. "Alright, do your thing."

Roxas stretched out his arm, closing his eyes and concentrating on the old wizard's tower, and attempted to banish the feelings of humiliation and anger associated with it. Despite all that, he simply couldn't open a Corridor of Darkness to Yen Sid's. There was something keeping him from doing so.

"There's some kind of barrier or something," he said, opening his eyes and turning to Sora. "I guess he does that to keep people out. Or keep _me_ out," he added, though he felt uneasy. Could there be something more sinister keeping them out? Twilight Town hadn't fallen already, had it?

"Then...just open a portal to Twilight Town, if you can," Sora said, the same worries entering his mind. "We'll just take the train from there.

Roxas nodded and tried again. This time the portal opened easily. Though whether that was a good thing or a bad thing remained to be seen. "This ought to take us to the Old Mansion," Roxas said. "It's probably not a good idea to appear out of thin air in the middle of the train station."

The two stepped in front of the portal, but Genie called over to them, and when they turned, he was wearing a rare, serious expression. "I dunno who's behind this mess in the Domain of Shadows. But whoever it is has some serious dark mojo to be able to pull something like this off. So...just be careful, alright? Not every magic-y, mythological being is as nice as me."

"Or Safiya," Sora added, smirking a bit. "Don't worry, Genie. We'll be okay." With that, they stepped into the portal, in the hope that they could finally get some solid answers about their friends.

* * *

_Notes: Poor sand monster, I felt kinda bad killing him when he wasn't even the real villain of the chapter. Fun fact (well, fun for me, anyway) – Safiya is named after an old, old RP character of mine. She was pretty weird too, although she never ate anyone's heart._

_Anyway, next time, we head over to Halloween Town to see what Kairi, Riku, and Naminé have been up to for the last month-and-a-half! Hopefully, it will not take me near as long to update._


	10. Leave the Lights On

**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**

_Chapter 10: Leave the Lights On_

_Notes: Yet another chapter that took way too long for no good reason. At least it's another long one? However...dear readers, no matter how long it may take me to update, I __**will**__ finish this fic – I am absolutely determined to. XD;_

* * *

Naminé's Corridor of Darkness deposited them in a small clearing in the midst of a forest of dead trees.

"What a strange spot," Naminé said quietly, turning round the clearing. They were surrounded by five particularly thick trees with strangely-shaped doors carved into each trunk. One door was shaped like a large heart, another a four-leaf clover, and... "That's a...Christmas tree, isn't it?" she asked, feeling a little silly for having to ask. But there had never been any time or reason for Christmas or anything like that under Organization XIII or DiZ.

Riku nodded. "I wonder what's behind those," he said, eyeing the doors. "But I guess we need to find that skeleton man before we do anything else, since that mirror seemed to want to make sure we got a good look at him."

A pale yellow sun – with the face of a Jack-o-Lantern, strangely – was beginning to set, the dead trees reaching towards the remaining light with gnarled fingers. "We'd better get a move on," Kairi said, "if we have any hope of finding him before dark."

She was right, but it was easier said than done; there was no path leading out of the strange clearing, and the eerie quiet of the place gave them the impression it was somewhere people were not supposed to be.

They hurried through the rapidly darkening forest, their shoes on the cold ground the only thing they could hear, at least at first. It was Riku who heard it first, stopping suddenly and straining to listen.

"Riku?" Kairi asked, pausing and turning back to him.

"Shh..."

And the girls could hear it too – a high-pitched, excited...barking?

"Is that a...dog?" Naminé blinked.

"Sure sounds like it!" Kairi took another few steps in front of the others. "Here, boy!" she called out, cupping her hands around her mouth.

Riku sighed a bit. "You sure that was a good idea, Kairi?"

She shrugged and turned back to answer him, but before she could, Naminé let out a startled cry and pointed in front of the three of them.

_Floating_ some distance in front of them was, indeed, a dog, but not any normal sort of dog – this dog could be described as nothing but a ghost dog. He was mostly transparent, with no legs – as though someone had draped a white sheet over a dog and removed the dog itself. There was nothing threatening about this little ghost, however, and idly Riku thought of Halloweens that had long since past, Halloweens that were even before Kairi, when he and Sora were young enough not to care what their parents decided to put them in for Halloween.

Kairi squatted, holding out a hand and beckoning the little ghost closer. Perhaps the most interesting thing about him was his nose – bulbous, orange, and brightly glowing, and when he came close enough, Kairi realized it had the shape of a Jack-o-Lantern. The dog sniffed her hand and attempted to nuzzle her with his head; being a ghost, his head passed right through her hand. Kairi both giggled and shuddered at the sensation that she had stuck her hand in a freezing waterfall.

"For a ghost, he's pretty cute," she said. At this, the dog let out another happy bark and somersaulted backwards in midair. He barked, floating a little ways away from the three.

"I think he wants us to follow him," Naminé said. The dog barked again.

Riku frowned a bit, watching the sun descend faster and faster. Maybe they'd get lucky and the dog would lead them out of the woods. For a ghost, he seemed pretty smart. Riku nodded at Naminé, and the three set off after the cheerful ghost dog.

They'd been walking for some time, when the dog suddenly stopped and began sniffing the ground in front of him. The sun had long since gone down, and only a little moonlight filtered in through the tangled branches of the forest. Really, the only light they had was the dog's bright nose.

"What is it, boy?" Kairi asked. The dog turned to face her, and they could see it had picked something up in its mouth, and what they saw made them all recoil a bit.

"Is that a bone? Like, a human bone?" Riku asked.

Before Kairi could answer, another voice echoed through the forest. "Zero!" called a nearby male voice. The little dog barked loudly in response, and they could hear a pair of footsteps coming closer and closer. Through the trees slipped the skeleton man they had seen in Beast's enchanted mirror.

At first he turned his attention to the dog, which had happily floated up to the skeleton's eye level – or what would have been his eye level, if the skeleton-man had any eyes. "There you are, Zero!" he was saying to the dog, taking the bone out of its mouth. "I thought you'd forgotten how to play fetch." To the surprise of Riku, Kairi, and Naminé, the skeleton took the bone and tucked it inside his suit jacket. There was a sickening crack, and it was only then that they realized Zero hadn't been holding just any human bone – it was one of this strange skeleton's bones.

"Now then, what have we here," he said, peering at the three young strangers. There was no hostility or suspiciousness in his tone; just a friendly curiosity. "Well, I'm Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, though I doubt that means much to a couple of outsiders!"

Suddenly Kairi's eyes grew wide. "I know who you are!" she exclaimed suddenly. Jack turned to her, his curiosity peaked. "You're the one who went with Sora to meet Santa Claus," Kairi finished, turning back to Riku for confirmation. "Remember? He told us about that!"

Jack split into a wide, toothy grin that was a little disconcerting anyway. "A splendid turn of events! Any friends of Sora's are dear friends of my own!" he said, leaning forward and enthusiastically shaking each of their hands in turn. "So what brings you here? Is Sora with you? And I don't even know your names!" he added, speaking so fast they could hardly get a word in edgewise.

"Er, I'm Kairi, and this is Riku and Naminé. And no, Sora's not with us. In fact, there's a chance he's in trouble, and that's why we're here. We...think you're supposed to help us," Kairi said finally.

"What?" Jack exclaimed, eyes going wide, because Jack Skellington was nothing if not a tad overdramatic. "Trouble? What sort of trouble? We must do something immediately-!"

Before they could explain the nature of the trouble to Jack, however, the dead leaves all around them began to rustle loudly, but there was no wind blowing through the trees. Zero began to bark frantically, and in the little light afforded by his bright nose, they could make out a dark, wriggling mass sliding on the ground.

"_That's_ the trouble!" Riku shouted, the three breaking into a run. The shadows paid no mind to Jack, wantonly sliding over his feet as they hurtled towards Riku, Kairi, and Naminé.

Jack yelped as the shadows nearly knocked him off his feet, long limbs flailing wildly. Regaining his balance, he broke into a run after the three strangers, catching up easily with his long legs. "Are these Heartless?" he called.

"They're just shadows, but they're being controlled by someone evil!" Riku called back. "They're more powerful in the dark!"

"Why didn't you say so?" Jack smirked, coming to a stop and spinning round with a flourish to face the shadows. He brought his bony hands together, cupping something small and bright between them, like a child catching fireflies. Abruptly he pulled his hands apart, having conjured a flaming jack-o-lantern. A bright jet of fire shot from its mouth, and most of the shadows cowered beneath it, slinking away from the light and heat.

But there was hardly time to celebrate. While Jack's magic had certainly thinned out the number of shadows, quite a few were still doggedly moving forward. "They're heading straight for town!" Jack exclaimed, his smirk disappearing and his forehead knitting in worry.

Jack took the lead, dashing through the forest, zigzagging between trees and deftly ducking under branches. It was all the others could do to just keep up. The trees began to thin out until finally they had burst free from the forest. The scenery was a blur as they rushed past – a graveyard, a pumpkin patch, a large hill. The moon overhead was huge and bright, now that they were out of the dense forest. The light of the moon did some to slow the shadows, but it hardly stopped them. With one more burst of speed, the shadows slid forward, out of sight. Jack slammed open a tall, wrought-iron gate that separated the forest and graveyard from Halloween Town proper.

"We need to make sure everyone's inside and all their lights are on," Riku said breathlessly, as they ran.

At this, Jack came to a sudden halt, and the others struggled not to crash into him. "Tonight's the first rehearsal of this year's Halloween!"

"So?" Riku asked, though he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"The whole town is _outside_!" As he spoke, they could hear a chorus of startled shouts and screams in the distance. They broke into a run once more, hurrying to the town square, where the shadows were wreaking havoc on the citizens of Halloween Town, pinning them in place with their shadows or outright attacking them.

"Jack, _Jack!_ What is all of this?" cried a rotund little man in an absurdly tall top hat, swatting at one of the shadows.

"Certainly not part of my Halloween plans, Mayor!" Jack answered, conjuring another one of his flaming pumpkins. "Get everyone into the town hall and turn on all the lights!" Without another word, he dashed off to help someone else.

Meanwhile, Riku had called his Keyblade to his hand, ready to fight. But Kairi was every bit as ready to fight as Riku was, and she gave him a long, pointed look until he summoned _her_ Keyblade, the one he had called forth for her in The World That Never Was, and handed it off to her.

"Just...stay kind of close to me, all right?" he said, and Kairi agreed, partly because she wasn't near as skilled with a Keyblade as Riku was, and partly to indulge his imploring tone. He hurried off, but Kairi paused a moment, turning back to Naminé and smiling in almost apologetic way.

Naminé smiled back, though it was impossible to completely squash the feeling that she was completely useless, defenseless in this situation. She shook her head, as if to physically shake out the self-pity. There was no time for that now.

A small crowd of confused Halloween Town citizens had gathered around near the mayor, who seemed paralyzed by inaction. Naminé turned to them all, placing her hands on her hips. "Well, you heard Jack! Everyone's to take cover in the town hall!" she ordered, despite the fact that she had no idea which building was the town hall.

But her words stirred the citizens from their confused stupor, and they began hurrying towards what Naminé assumed was the town hall. The mayor hurriedly approached the door of the building and pulled a key-ring crammed with an inordinate number of keys from his pocket. He unlocked the door, and the small crowd brushed him out of their way, hurrying inside. For a mayor, Naminé thought, he certainly didn't command a lot of respect.

She hurried inside the dark building as well. "Don't forget, turn on all the lights!" she called out. As the people scattered and began flicking light switches, illuminating the dark, worn wood of the gathering place, Naminé noted what looked like a large spotlight mounted atop a catwalk directly above the door leading outside.

"Does that spotlight work?" Naminé asked of the mayor.

"Well, yes, it certainly should – "

"Go up there and turn it on, and shine it right there in the doorway!" Naminé said. The mayor fumbled up the ladder and flicked the large switch, and the spotlight burst to life with a loud pop. The mayor angled it so that the bright beam of light pointed directly at the threshold of the town hall. Just then, a shadow came sliding towards the doorway, but as soon as it touched the circle of light, it recoiled.

"It's working! Keep it right there!" Naminé called up to the mayor. A bubble of pride swelled in her stomach. Her idea was helping! She smiled widely, and, feeling bold, leaned out of the doorway and stuck her tongue out at the shadow. Angered, it lunged for her, and Naminé let out a squeak and stepped back into the safety of the town hall.

As Kairi, Riku, and Jack worked to clear out or at least hinder the shadows, they sent the rest of Halloween Town's citizens toward the town hall, and Naminé found herself planted firmly in the doorway, ushering them all inside. She had never seen anything like these people before – there was a snarling werewolf; a clown wearing a terrible, sinister smile; a pair of ugly old witches; a little boy with his eyes sewn shut. Under any other circumstances Naminé was sure she'd be terrified of them – but it was impossible to be afraid once she realized how frightened _they_ were.

One of the last citizens to hurry in was a girl. She was every bit as strange and terrible-looking as the rest of the town, her arms and legs and face covered in stitches, but there was something about her that made her completely different from the rest of the town. She was much quieter than everyone else, for one thing, and her movements were ungainly, as if she were uncomfortable in her own skin. She hovered around the doorway near Naminé, anxiously peering out into the darkness.

"Are...you okay?" Naminé asked. The girl nodded absently, moving a little ways away from the doorway, but keeping her eyes on it.

Finally, Jack, Kairi, and Riku burst into the town hall, Jack slamming the door shut behind them and locking it. Kairi and Riku rejoined Naminé, happy to see that they were all unharmed. The strange girl hurried over to Jack, taking his hand in her own.

"You all right, Sally?" they heard him say to her.

"Skeletons have girlfriends?" Naminé whispered to Kairi.

"It's not any weirder than clocks having grandfathers," Kairi whispered back.

"Jack, what is all this?" the mayor was exclaiming then, from up on the catwalk. "And who are they?" he added, pointing at Kairi, Riku, and Naminé. At this, the entire room exploded in a chorus of confused shouts and pleas for answers.

Jack gave a little sigh, letting go of Sally's hand, and waded into the crowd. "If everyone would please _**calm down!**_" It was a little bit surprising to hear such a shout come out of the skeleton, who, up to that point, had been nothing but excitable and maybe even a bit silly. A hush fell over the entire room, and for a moment, Riku, Kairi, and Naminé could see how Jack had been running Halloween for who knew how long.

"Now then," Jack said, satisfied that he had the room's attention. He gestured to Riku, Kairi, and Naminé. "These three are friends of Sora's. You all remember Sora, hmm?" There was a general murmur of agreement. "They're going to help us figure out what to do with those shadows out there." At this, he gestured for the three to follow him. "And you ought to come with us, Mayor," he added as an afterthought.

"M-me?" the mayor stuttered from atop the catwalk, but Jack remained oblivious to the mayor's cowardice, as usual. "Yes, I...suppose this does concern me," he mumbled, clumsily heading down the ladder and stumbling after Jack and the three.

They headed up the stairs, through the town hall, to the mayor's office, where Jack shut the door behind them and turned to face Riku, Kairi, and Naminé with a flourish. "So!" he chirped. Now that the town's citizen's were out of immediate danger, Jack actually seemed excited about whatever was going on. "What are all these...shadows doing here? And what were you saying earlier about Sora being in trouble?"

Quickly, they explained to Jack that the shadows were being manipulated, and that Sora was somewhere out there attempting to stop whoever was behind it, just as they were. The mayor sat at his desk, as if to hide from the problems the newcomers had brought, but Jack leaned back against the front of his desk, arms folded, focusing completely on the story.

"How can we help?" he asked, once they had finished.

"Well, we're supposed to go find the person who's doing this and stop them. But we can't get to them without five special objects. Well, five special jewels, I guess," Kairi said.

"And we're pretty sure one of them is somewhere here, in Halloween Town," Riku added.

"A...jewel?" the mayor spoke up, finally.

"That's right," Naminé said slowly. "It's probably really well-hidden and protected, and it's probably been hidden for, well, forever. Actually, you might even know you have it," she added, thinking of the secret passages they'd found in Beast's Castle.

"Or it could've fallen into the wrong hands," Riku said, thinking of the emerald they'd taken from Facilier in New Orleans. At this, a shadow passed over Jack's face. He turned to the mayor.

"Could Oogie have had something like that?" he said idly, half to the mayor, half to himself.

The mayor didn't answer, apparently deep in thought. He dug out his massive key ring once more. "You aren't looking for...this, are you?" he asked slowly, unhooking something off the ring. He held it out to the three, who exchanged glances. The jewels were supposed to harm those who weren't meant to touch them; so whatever the mayor had couldn't be what they were after. But Riku accepted the object anyway, with Kairi, Naminé, and Jack all leaning in to get a better view.

The object was small and egg-shaped, decorated in a simplistic, almost childish array of pastel stripes and polka dots. There were two small holes in it, one at its narrow top and one at its wider bottom.

"What is this, Mayor?" Jack asked.

"Clearly, it's a...a...well, I'm not really sure," the mayor finally admitted. "But every single mayor has been charged with protecting this...thing, with no explanation of what it is or what it's for."

"Hm," Jack said, but he was clearly as just clueless as the mayor.

"It looks like an Easter egg," Kairi said. When everyone turned to look at her, she added, "Doesn't it?"

Jack startled them all by springing upright. "It _does_! Of course! What does this look like?" he exclaimed excitedly. Now they all turned to look at Jack incredulously.

"Like an...Easter egg?" Kairi said again.

"Yes, yes, but besides that!" Jack said impatiently, gesturing to the little hole at the egg's base. "It looks like a _piece_ of something!"

"I, er, don't follow," the mayor said timidly.

"When you were in the forest, did you happen to notice a little clearing, where the trees had strangely shaped doors on them?" Jack began, turning to the three visitors and ignoring the mayor.

"Yes, we – oh, that little Easter egg was on one of the doors!" Naminé said.

"Precisely! Those doors are portals to the other holiday towns, you see. If this jewel of yours is so important, then perhaps it can't be found without the cooperation of _all_ the holidays!" Jack explained. He looked around at them all, but they hardly seemed to share his enthusiasm. He crossed his arms, his expression somewhat offended.

"It makes sense," Riku jumped in. "But that'll take too long to go out there and meet up with every leader of every holiday world, won't it? Not to mention how you'd get by all those shadows."

Jack nodded slowly, considering this, his expression growing deflated. "Indeed...that is something of a problem." He began to pace about the office, bony fingers tapping against his round chin.

"Is there some way to get them to come to us, if we can't go get them?" Naminé asked.

At this Jack slapped his forehead. "Of course! My dear girl, you're right!" He hurried to the back of the office, where a deep purple velvet curtain hung on the wall. With a flourish he pulled the curtain back, revealing five tubes attached to the wall that ran up into the ceiling. Near the opening of each tube was a little picture – the pictures were the same as the doors on the strange trees in the forest.

Jack continued to bustle around the office, grabbing paper, a black feather quill, a pot of ink, and a handful of thick envelopes. They could see a pumpkin letterhead atop the paper. "You see, for quite a while, the different holiday towns had no idea the others existed. Some time ago, there was, erm...an incident, shall we say. To prevent any other disasters, this system of communication was built between all the holiday towns. But it's so new I'd forgotten all about it!" he said, as he began scribbling on the papers.

"So...what, you'll explain what's going on and ask them to come here with some artifact that you think we'll be able to use to find the artifact that we came here for in the first place," Riku said.

The slight derision in his tone was lost on Jack. "That's the idea!" he said, finishing with one note and reaching for another sheet of paper in a flurry of white fingers and thick parchment. "That should do it!" he exclaimed, folding the last of the five letters in its envelope. He gathered them to his chest and stood in one swift, fluid motion, turning on his heel to face the network of tubes. The three watched as Jack fed each letter into each tube, sucking it up out of sight with a thick slurp.

"Now, I'm afraid, we wait," Jack said, turning on his heel once more, and it was hard to imagine him with the patience to wait for anything for long. He hurried out of the office, with Kairi, Naminé, Riku, and the mayor trailing after him.

"What for what?" the mayor asked.

"For our guests, of course!" Jack answered. "I'll head to the clearing in the woods, and wait for the other holiday leaders to come."

"By yourself? Don't you think that's kind of dangerous?" Kairi asked, nearly trotting to keep up with his long strides.

"Not really!" Jack answered casually. "Besides, once you three have gotten what you need and are on your way, there'll be nothing to worry about!"

Kairi, Naminé, and Riku exchanged glances. From their understanding, the shadows would not cease attacking people and return to normal until whoever was behind their behavior could be defeated. And they could make no guarantee as to when that would be.

"Wait, that's not - " Naminé said timidly, but Jack hardly heard her. Before they could stop him, he had already led them through the town hall and back to the main meeting hall. They were standing on the stage, all of Halloween Town watching with bated breath.

"Well, Jack?" piped up one voice from the back.

"Nothing to worry about!" Jack answered with a casual flick of the wrist. "I'm going to give Sora's friends a hand and wrap up this shadow business." Reassured, the crowd let out a satisfied murmur, but Riku, Kairi, and Naminé were anything but reassured.

"I don't like this," Kairi whispered to Riku.

"Look, if the shadows are spreading to other worlds, it means we need to hurry, not stick around," he whispered back, but he looked uncertain as well.

"I know, but...it just feels like we're leading them on," Kairi answered. That was it. Her mind was made up. She reached out, tugging on Jack's wrist. He turned to her, quizzical, but at the serious expression on her face, bent down towards her. Kairi began to whisper in his ear – at least, where his ear would be, were he not a skeleton. The townspeople were watching closely, their happy faces growing uncertain. After a moment, Jack straightened, his expression alarmed.

"What do you mean, 'the shadows won't go back to normal'?" he exclaimed.

The crowd before them immediately burst into a nervous chatter.

"Can we fight them?"

"How do we get rid of them?"

"What are we gonna do?"

Jack raised his hands into the air, calling for calm, but he was drowned out. The frightened chatter was so loud, in fact, they only barely heard the scream rising from the back of the hall, near the door. The crowd surged away from the door, and they could see a shadow attacking the clown, his usual sinister grimace wide open in fear. Riku leapt off the stage, Keyblade already in hand, and elbowed through the crowd until he reached the door, slashing through the shadow that had found its way inside.

The crowd was even more panicked. "You said we'd be fine if we turned on the lights!" someone near the stage shouted up at them.

Naminé frowned to herself. It didn't make sense – the lights had been working as a deterrent just fine only a little while ago. After all, she was so pleased with herself when her spotlight idea had worked; she had felt like for once, she was contributing to the fight, rather than just trying to stay out of the way. But now that everyone was panicking, the light was doing nothing – Naminé froze.

"It's not as simple as just turning the lights on!" she exclaimed to Kairi. But before Kairi could ask for any further explanation, Naminé headed to the front of the stage and waved her arms above her head.

"Hey, everybody, listen!" she called. A few people in the front turned to peer at her, their expressions distrusting, but the rest either didn't hear her, or simply ignored her. Naminé fell back a little, feeling awkward. She threw a helpless glance over her shoulder, and Jack stepped forward, put two fingers in his mouth, and whistled loudly; quite a feat for someone without a tongue. The room quieted a great deal, but there was still a lot of nervous murmuring and shuffling especially near the door, as Riku continued to hold off the shadows trying to slither their way inside.

"It's not just as simple as turning the lights on!" Naminé repeated, now that she had an audience. "Well, that's part of it...but, it's got to do with the light inside of you, too!"

A sea of blank and confused faces stared up at her. Naminé floundered. "You know, it's like, um..."

Suddenly, the girl called Sally climbed atop the stage next to Naminé. "It's like the night before Halloween!" She turned to Naminé. "That sort of light?"

"Er, sure..."

Sally turned and addressed the crowd once more. "Just think about the night before Halloween. Think about how good that feels!"

"But we might not even make it till next Halloween!" squeaked a frightened voice from the crowd.

"Now, that's just nonsense!" Jack boomed, stepping forward. "Of course we'll make it! We'll all be just fine if we stick together. Are we really this afraid our _shadows_? In fact, why haven't we used shadows at Halloween _before_? I'm sure we could come up with something really grand!"

This time, the murmur that rose up from the crowd was a pleasurable one. A moment or two later, they saw Riku relax and begin to make his way back through the crowd. "They're stuck outside again – for now, anyway," he said quietly to his friends on the stage when he returned. "Apparently all it took was a pep talk."

"So they only have power over you as long as you're upset or frightened of them," Naminé said quietly.

"Sure looks that way," Riku shrugged.

"Now that everything's back under control, I'll be off to the woods to wait for our guests," Jack said quietly, so as not to let the others hear him.

"Guests?" Sally frowned, and there was a lovingly exasperated look to her face; a 'what sort of scheme have you cooked up now' expression.

"I've asked the other holiday leaders to come here; we think they might be able to help our friends here," he answered.

"I'll go with you," Riku said. "You might need this," he said quickly before Jack could interrupt, and nodded toward his Keyblade.

"You just may be right," Jack relented and gestured for Riku to follow him out a side door, figuring they had better keep those front doors shut and locked for as long as they could. "We won't be long," he said over his shoulder, and Riku turned back and nodded his agreement. The two disappeared into the wings of the stage.

Left behind yet again, Naminé, Kairi, and Sally exchanged brief but knowing glances.

* * *

Perhaps it was the town's newfound determination against the shadows, but the journey through the forest was far quicker and much quieter than Riku had expected it to be. They could hear the shadows rustling through the darkened trees, an unnerving sound, but for the most part the shadows stayed put.

Riku found himself unwittingly testing Naminé's hypothesis that a person's emotional state affected the power of the shadows. For Riku had been to Halloween Town before; he remembered it now. Or rather, he had been to the memory version of it, inside of Castle Oblivion. That had been a pale imitation of the real thing, he was realizing.

His thoughts drifted to those dark times; how blind and stupid he had been and how he always wondered how he could fix what he'd done –

Suddenly something cold gripped his ankle. He stumbled a bit, then turned and slashed at whatever it was with his Keyblade. The shadow vanished in a brief burst of light.

Riku stared at the spot where it had been, then steeled himself against those dark thoughts. He berated himself a little for allowing himself to be so distracted, for continuing to dwell on something that he would never be able to change.

"Something wrong?" Jack asked from up ahead, turning back to Riku.

"No," Riku muttered, hurrying after the skeleton.

Once they reached the clearing with the portals to the other holiday worlds, they didn't have long to wait.

First the heart-shaped door opened, and a winged baby with a bow in one hand and a handful of arrows in another wriggled through the small opening. Riku blinked, surprised to see the actual Cupid was so...cliché.

"What's all this about, Skellington?" Cupid asked gruffly, his voice a deep tenor. Riku stared. Maybe not so cliché after all...

"Everything will be explained once the others arrive, my friend," Jack answered.

One by one, the doors swung open, and out clambered the leaders of those holiday worlds. Despite a tendency to be cynical, Riku couldn't help but marvel at how they mysteriously had no trouble fitting through those tiny doors. (Although Uncle Sam had a bit of trouble with his long, pinstripe-clad legs.)

Santa Claus emerged last, walking over to shake Jack's hand, an expression of grudging respect on his face. Suddenly he turned to face Riku. "Riku," he said slowly. "Now...as I recall, some years ago it was you who went around telling the other children that I didn't exist."

Riku was for once speechless. "Well, I – um, it's..."

Santa frowned, but there was an amused twinkle in his eye. "Very naughty."

"Can we get on with this, Jack?" a leprechaun piped up. "Halloween Town gives me the creeps..."

"Yes, of course!" Jack chirped, gesturing for the others to follow. Riku fell back to the end of the group, on the lookout for any attacks. As the group headed back for town, Jack began to explain the shadowy attack on Halloween Town, embellishing the story quite a bit. Riku rolled his eyes a bit, but was content to let Jack tell the story.

"What does this have to do with us?" asked the pilgrim couple in unison.

"Ah yes..." Jack turned to face his colleagues, walking just as gracefully backwards as forwards. "You all brought along an...item, yes?"

There was a vague murmur of assent. Jack gave a half-shrug. "I'll explain further once we reach town," he said.

They hurried through the forest and the graveyard, through the eerily empty town square that would normally be bustling at this time of night. Every so often, in their peripheral vision, they glimpsed a shadow slither across the ground; but the town hall, with all its lights on, was a beacon on that dark night.

All was quiet when they hurried inside – perhaps it had been growing a little _too _quiet, judging from the way the citizens of Halloween Town gaped eagerly at the other holiday leaders as they entered. Jack, noticing this, simply swept his colleagues, along with the mayor, Sally, Riku, Kairi, and Naminé past the prying eyes and into the mayor's office. He wasn't thrilled with leaving everyone else in the dark, but everything would go much quicker without a clamor of well-intentioned but ultimately useless advice. Too many cooks, so to speak.

"Well, I suppose I ought to get right to the point," Jack said, as he shut the door behind them and spun around with a flourish. "My friends here need to find something that will help them put a permanent stop to these pesky shadows. We believe, though, that they can't find it unless we all cooperate," he added, gesturing to himself and the other holiday leaders. "So, er...Well, it's just like I mentioned in my note! Hopefully you all have something important you've been tasked with keeping, something that may...look a bit out of place, in your holiday."

"You mean like this?" Cupid asked gruffly, reaching in to his bag of arrows and pulling out a skeletal human hand. He dropped it on the mayor's desk, the bony fingers clinking together. "I've had it for as long as I can remember."

Jack blinked owlishly at the hand, which was nearly identical to his own. "Yes, that's...a good start."

One by one, the ambassadors to the other holidays pulled out strange-looking objects of their own, and added it to the growing pile on the mayor's desk. Besides the hand, and the Easter egg the mayor of Halloween Town had brought out earlier, there was a pink rod festooned with red hearts; a second rod striped white and red like a candy cane; a glass four-leaf clover; a stout cylinder of red, white, and blue that was reminiscent of a firecracker; and a large, but strangely empty, cornucopia.

It was easy to determine which object matched which holiday, but none of the objects had come with their matching holiday leader, and how exactly the six objects would help Riku, Kairi, and Naminé to find their third gem was unclear.

Jack cocked his head to one side. "Let's see, clearly, we just have to...have to...Hm."

Kairi looked at him. "Well, earlier you said maybe the pieces would fit together somehow, like...they could form a key, or something." They all turned to look at her; it was obvious from the size and strange shapes of the objects that they wouldn't be assembling any sort of key tonight. Regardless, Kairi reached for the four-leaf clover, the closest item to her, intending to examine it for clues. But as her fingers brushed against the iridescent green glass, the glass grew hot, and Kairi yelped in surprise, pulling her hand back. There was a low hum, and the other items began to twitch and roll and move toward one another.

To the amazement of everyone in the room, the items began to assemble seemingly of their own accord. Sure enough, what now lay on the mayor's desk was far from a key.

"It's...it looks like a shovel," Sally spoke up finally. The others had to concede that she may be on to something. At one end was the skeleton hand, then the Easter egg, presumably there to act as a grip. The firecracker-like cylinder, the candy cane-striped rod, and the pink dowel formed the shaft of the shovel, and it culminated in the empty cornucopia.

"A really ugly shovel!" piped up the leprechaun.

"That still doesn't really help us," Riku frowned, picking it up and peering at it. "Okay, it's a shovel – but _where_ are we supposed to dig?"

"Maybe we missed something," Kairi wondered aloud, reaching to take it from Riku. As soon as she held it in her hands, the skeleton hand at the end began to move, flexing its fingers with an eerie crackling sound. Then it pointed its index finger towards the door of the mayor's office, and was still.

"Oh, I get it!" Naminé exclaimed suddenly. "Riku and I have already found our jewels. It's only responding to Kairi, since she's the one who's meant to use it."

Kairi frowned at the shovel. "Guess there's not much else to do but figure out where it wants us to go."

"Well, let's be on with it, then!" Jack exclaimed, bounding over to the door and flinging it open. Riku, Kairi, and Naminé led the way, everyone else trailing behind with differing levels of curiosity. The mayor elected to stay in the town hall, having had quite enough excitement for one night.

The strange shovel directed them out of the town hall, and if the diverse group had attracted the attention of the townspeople before, they sure did now. "Jack, what the heck is that?" someone called out, pointing to the shovel in Kairi's hands. For once, Jack could do nothing but shrug helplessly.

As soon as they exited the town hall, the skeleton hand moved again, this time pointing them to the left. "It's like a compass," Kairi marveled. But, perhaps sensing that their enemies were close to their goal, or perhaps sensing that the sun would rise again in only a few hours, the shadows were growing bolder, and Riku stuck close to Kairi through the long trek, knocking away any attacking shadows. Towards the back of the expedition, Jack had to shoot off a few of his flaming pumpkins.

The shovel directed them deep into the woods outside of town, abruptly changing direction, having them weave in and out of trees – so much so that Kairi began to wonder if this was a waste of time. Suddenly, though, the skeleton hand closed up into a fist. Kairi stopped and peered at it, and after a few seconds the hand opened up again, this time its index finger pointing directly downwards.

"Hey, what's the hold-up?" Cupid hollered from the back.

But the hand remained firmly in place, pointing at the ground directly beneath it. "Guess it's time to start digging..." Kairi said, which proved a little easier said than done. The shovel's strange shape was a little awkward to handle, and when Riku offered to take over, the shovel simply ceased to work – try as he might, it was if he were trying to dig up arctic tundra. By the time the shovel hit something solid, the sun was just beginning to rise.

Kairi wiped the sweat off her brow and knelt in the dirt, unearthing a small, weathered wooden box.

"_That's_ what all the fuss has been about?" Jack exclaimed, peering over her shoulder.

Kairi opened the box, and rattling around inside was a beautiful white stone, nearly opaque, but when she held it up to the early morning sun, a pale blue shimmer danced across its surface. The gem was warm in her fingers. "No," she grinned, turning to Jack. "_This_ is what all the fuss has been about."

* * *

The shovel had directed them far away from town, and even Jack, with his expert knowledge of the forest, had some trouble leading the group back to the holiday clearing. There was no hurry, however – the sun seemed to have banished the shadows; for the time being, at least.

They had disassembled the strange shovel and sent the pieces back with their owners, and after the Easter bunny, the last one to leave, had squeezed back through the Easter door, Sally turned to face the others.

"It really was very clever," she said, "to give everyone a piece from a holiday not their own. After all, the holidays were completely unknown to each other until not long ago...So there would be no chance of anyone finding that jewel unless the other holidays found out about each other."

Jack nodded, draping an arm around her shoulders. He turned to his three remaining guests. "Speaking of the jewel...now that you have it, what are you going to do?"

The three exchanged glances. "Well...the shadows might be gone for now, but they won't be gone for good until we get rid of whoever it is that's behind it all," Riku frowned.

"But we can't do that until we figure out where Sora is," Kairi added.

"Isn't there someone you could just...ask?" Jack shrugged. "_Someone_ ought to know where he is, hm?"

Neither Kairi nor Naminé could imagine who would know Sora's whereabouts now, but Riku seemed to have an idea. "I just remembered," he said urgently. "When this all started, I had this dream with King Mickey in it, and he told me we should meet up with Sora and Roxas at Yen Sid's tower."

"Oh, yeah!" Kairi exclaimed. "Facilier hijacked our portal. But if Sora and Roxas made it to Yen Sid's okay, then he might know where they are."

Riku nodded. "It's worth a shot."

Naminé already had her hand outstretched, ready to open a portal. "So...where does Yen Sid live, exactly?"

"I don't know, somewhere outside of Twilight Town proper," Riku answered. "Mickey said to take the train."

"Oh, but we probably don't want to just teleport in the middle of a crowded train station," Kairi jumped in. "Can you take us somewhere out of the way, Naminé?"

"Well!" Jack said suddenly, and they jumped a bit. They'd almost forgotten he was there. "You all seem to have everything well under control." His face split into a wide grin. "Tell Sora 'hello' for us, will you?"

"Of course," Naminé smiled back. She turned and focused on the air in front of her, and opened a Corridor of Darkness to the most secluded part of Twilight Town she could think of – the Old Mansion.

* * *

_Notes: Oh Jack and Sally, I love your film, but your chapter was a bear to write. The shovel is actually based on the PC game Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal skull. XD; Just in case you doubted my dorkiness.__ Next chapter...the pieces are all falling into place, but what sorts of horrors await our heroes in the Domain of Shadows? ! _


	11. Into the Dark

**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**

_Chapter 11: Into the Dark_

_Notes: At the end of the chapter, Sora refers to the events of my oneshot __Through the Glass__, which is something of a prologue for this fic. _

_

* * *

_

All was quiet at the entrance of the Old Mansion when Roxas and Sora arrived there. At first they were relieved to find that nothing catastrophic had happened at Twilight Town since they had last been there, but it was unsettlingly quiet, as they began to make their way through the forest, away from the mansion and towards Twilight Town and the train station. And Yen Sid.

The trepidation at seeing the wizard again, Sora realized, was much like the dread he felt as a kid whenever his mom took him to the dentist. Suddenly the image of Yen Sid opening a dental practice popped into his head, and he made a face.

"What are you thinking about?" Roxas asked him.

"Yen Sid as a dentist." This was said as if it were the most natural thought in the world.

"As a...okay, then." As much as he was growing to like Sora, there were still times when Roxas had no idea how they could've come from the same heart.

They were nearly halfway through the forest when Sora froze, then grabbed Roxas and darted behind the nearest tree.

"Hey, what – " Roxas protested, but Sora shook his head.

"Someone's coming!"

Sora was right; they could hear voices and footsteps. After a moment of listening with bated breath, they realized they were hearing a trio of three distinct voices – three distinct and very familiar voices. Sora's eyes widened, and before Roxas could stop him, he had left the cover of the tree and was darting back down the path. "It could be a trap!" Roxas hissed, and made a vain grab for Sora's arm.

Sora vaguely considered the idea that Roxas was right, that the Riku, Kairi, and Naminé coming towards them were fakes, meant to trick and trap him, but as he and Kairi threw their arms around each other, he was certain they were real.

"You're okay!" Sora cried joyfully, reaching out to grab Riku's wrist and pull him into the hug. "Where have you been?"

"We could ask you the same!" Kairi said, pulling away to look at Sora.

"Aw, we've been all over!" Sora said. "Me and Roxas – " He turned back to see Roxas coming toward them, a little awkwardly, but he was looking over Sora's shoulder, at Naminé.

"Hi, Roxas," she said when he approached.

"Hi," he answered. He paused. How strange, the two of them conversing like this, in the flesh. "This is weird, isn't it."

She smiled a bit. "I guess it is." Though they had not found many occasions to talk, Naminé had always felt a certain kinship towards Roxas. She had gone to him in the virtual Twilight Town, with the intention of helping him break free of the manipulation of DiZ and even Axel. She had told him the truth; though theirs was a painful truth, she had wanted him to come to terms with it on his own, just as she had to.

And Roxas had always respected Naminé, his fellow Nobody, who had accepted their sad, shared fate with much more grace than he ever had. Only, that fate had changed to be replaced with a better fate? Or maybe even a worse one.

Sora joined the two of them, looking from one to the other. "Naminé," he said, his tone a little surprised. He knew without a doubt that she was Naminé, though when he thought about it, he couldn't remember where he'd seen her before.

The smile on her face grew forced. "Hi, Sora," she said quietly. The confusion and uncertainty in his eyes hurt. So he really did not remember anything about Castle Oblivion, or what she had done.

Sora didn't notice her sudden distress, but he did notice the uncomfortable nod of acknowledgement between Riku and Roxas; a taciturn agreement to cooperate, despite their antagonistic relationship before.

"So!" Sora chirped, deciding to change the subject. He turned to Riku. "What brought you guys to Twilight Town?"

"We had to find you two," Riku explained. "We were going to try and find this...Yen Sid guy."

"Turns out we were supposed to go around collecting these jewels," Kairi jumped in. "To get into this Domain of Shadows. There's one for each of us."

Sora and Roxas exchanged glances. "You mean these?" Roxas asked, he and Sora pulling their gemstones out of their pockets.

"Well...yeah!" Kairi laughed, as she, Riku, and Naminé pulled theirs out as well.

"So now...all we have to do is figure out where they go," Naminé spoke up finally.

"Ooh!" Sora burst out like a schoolkid, happy to be able to answer a question. He grabbed Roxas's shoulder and gave him a little shake. "Me and Roxas figured that out already!" He started hurrying back towards the Old Mansion, drawing the old key from Yen Sid out of his other pocket. "It's in this locked-up old courtyard in the mansion, you – aw heck, we'll just show you!"

None of them realized that it was the first time that all of them had been together, so preoccupied were they with getting into the Domain of Shadows. As they hurried back to the Old Mansion, a sense of adventure and excitement swelled up inside of Sora; they had made it this far and they were all in one piece. It was hard to imagine anything stopping them now. And he was sure the others felt it too.

Sora and Roxas led them through the library and out the glass doors into the dilapidated courtyard, and around to the dried-up fountain. "See?" Sora said, crouching and pointing to the five indentations in the bottom of the fountain.

"It's even shaped like a star," Riku noted, thinking of the prophecy they had discovered in Naminé's sketchpad.

"Okay, but what about these footprints?" Kairi spoke up, her voice thin. Sure enough, the huge pawprints circling the fountain that Sora and Roxas had already discovered were still there.

"Well, you know, that's just...I guess it's just from whoever's been doing all this," Sora answered, suddenly keenly aware of how quiet it was in the courtyard, as well as how thick the clouds above them were. The confidence began to leave him as air leaves a balloon with a hole in it.

The silence grew thick. "Look, it has to be us," Roxas said suddenly, nudging Sora aside and placing his gem in one of the five indentations before he could stop himself. He stared at the gem, which had begun to glow. "I mean, we all know that, right?"

Riku nodded, inserting his own gem into the fountain as well. "We're wasting time." Kairi and Naminé added theirs to the fountain, and then all eyes were on Sora.

He fingered the jewel for a moment, then turned and smiled at the others. "As long as we stick together, we'll be fine," he said firmly, nudging the fifth gemstone into place.

For a moment, nothing happened; suddenly, a strong gust of wind kicked up the dead leaves and tore through the neglected foliage of the courtyard. There was a startling, painfully bright flash of light, and they were forced to shield their eyes.

When the light faded, and Sora lowered his hands, he was standing somewhere strange, somewhere formless. It was dark, with smears of purple appearing and disappearing in the inky blackness around him. It looked a lot like the inside of a Corridor of Darkness, something he had become awfully familiar with over the course of the last few days.

And he was alone.

"Guys?" he shouted. Nothing but silence. His palms were sweaty, but he clenched them into fists. If his friends were in danger, he had to stay calm. Sora began to run, but the darkness around him showed no signs of lifting.

"Let me out of here!" he cried in frustration.

"No need to shout," came a silky voice behind him.

Sora skidded to a stop and whirled around, only to come face-to-face with the same woman he and Roxas had seen in the future Radiant Garden. The Shadow Enchantress – or rather, the possessed Shadow Enchantress.

"Why don't you get out of there and face me yourself, you coward!"

"She" smirked. "I think not. This body is still useful." Idly, she twirled some kind of staff in her hands – it was three or four feet in length, and silvery-white. Sora realized it was a magic staff, the kind Donald always had, just as she reeled back and shot a crackling ball of black energy towards him. He dropped to the ground and rolled to avoid the blow, summoning his Keyblade and positioning it as a shield against future attacks. He deflected the next few blasts, the third striking the Enchantress on her forearm. For a moment the magic seemed to change her form – her arm briefly appeared black as night, muscular, with five claws instead of fingers.

It suddenly struck Sora that he was seeing a part of the true form of whomever it was controlling the enchantress. He remembered the clawed footprints in the dirt in the courtyard, of course, but something else flashed in his mind – a battle, from a long time ago, from when he defeated the Heartless who called himself Ansem. It was a long hard battle, alongside Donald and Goofy, against a being made of such pure darkness, that at the sight of him a cold dread had settled in Sora's stomach.

And for some reason, that same dread began to creep through him.

Sora stared, trying to make sense of this. "But...but we beat him..." He was one to trust his instincts, but he didn't understand how his gut could be right this time. A movement caught his eye, and he looked down. Though the being standing before him seemed to be the Shadow Enchantress, her shadow was that of some massive creature. Sora could only stare in horror as the shadow stretched out a pair of impossibly long bat-like wings. They were unmistakable.

"Y-You're the demon Chernabog."

The Enchantress gazed down at him with narrowed eyes, but said nothing. 'She' seemed caught off guard that Sora had already ascertained 'her' true identity. The shadowy wings beneath Sora's feet began to move, and from nowhere a gust of tore through the area. A deep rough voice echoed all around him.

"_Tonight all of you will be plunged into darkest night, and all of you will break, so that nothing else will stand in your way. Your friends will be the first to fall, little human." _

"That's what you think, but we don't care what your stupid prophecy says!" Sora shouted back, but there was no answer, only a low rumble that sounded somewhat like laughter.

* * *

The light faded gradually and Naminé slowly took her hands away from her eyes, disoriented. But as she blinked the spots out of her vision, she realized she was now alone in the courtyard of the Old Mansion.

"Guys?" she called softly, but there was no answer. She looked around, confused – nothing looked any different, but they were supposed to be in the Domain of Shadows. Had something gone wrong? Had they been collecting the wrong items?

The wind picked up behind her, but in her confused state it sounded like an eerie whisper. "Riku? Kairi?" she called out, but there was still no answer.

She thought of the shadows in Halloween Town and how they had been able to hold them off. _'They only have power over you if you're afraid...'_

Naminé took a few cautious steps out of the courtyard and towards the mansion. She froze mid-step, certain that she had heard someone – or something – walking behind her. Naminé whirled around, but the courtyard was empty.

She hurried towards the glass doors leading into the mansion, fumbling a bit with the handle and stumbling inside. _'They only have power over you if you're afraid.'_

She hurried through the library, and back out into the main hall. "Riku? Kairi?" she tried again, louder this time. She swallowed, her throat tight. "Roxas? Sora?"

Somewhere in the mansion, a faint cry rang out. Naminé felt her heart begin to pound, and she took off running in the direction she thought the scream had come from. _'Only if you're afraid, only...'_

Now she was certain that there were footsteps behind her, but when she threw a terrified glance over her shoulder, there was no one in sight. She tore up the stairs, abandoning her search for the source of the scream. She flew down the hallway, realizing far too late where it was that her feet were taking her. She threw the door open and stumbled into a rectangular room of blinding white. A white curtain covered the large window; the walls and floors were white; the only furniture was a long, white table and chairs; a vase of white flowers sat upon the table. The only color in the room at all came from the crayon drawings, still on the walls.

Naminé felt herself begin to tremble. She had never wanted to see this place again.

She heard the door behind her slam shut and she whirled to face Marluxia, standing near the door, his giant scythe held casually in one hand.

"Y-You...you aren't real," she whispered.

'_They only have power over you-!'_

In an instant he had closed the gap between them and towered over her. "It hardly matters what I am, seeing as you're terrified of me."

'_If you're afraid-!'_

"I-I'm not," she said, steeling herself as best she could. This was only a shade of the real Marluxia. "You're nothing more than an overgrown shadow!" she burst out. "Sora got rid of the real Marluxia!"

The apparition leaned back and smiled wickedly. "Oh yes, let's talk about your dear friend Sora."

Naminé shrank back a little.

"You truly are a pitiful creature, witch," he sneered. "You think you've bettered your lot, but all you've ever done is trade one prison for another. Was DiZ any better than the Organization? Is this heart of yours any better than DiZ?"

"O-Of course it is!" she cried. "I-I'm whole now, I'm not just a...just a thing anymore!"

"True, you are no longer a Nobody...but now you're nothing more than a prisoner of your own heart. Come now, Naminé. How could you ever fit in among these people? Especially with the secrets you carry."

She shook her head. "Kairi and Riku are my friends," she said feebly.

"But are you truly _their_ friend?"

She tried to block out the words, but the terrible idea had already taken hold, chilling her blood.

"Yes, little witch. You've known it this whole time – you need them _far_ more than they need you."

She shook her head numbly, and he smirked in reply. "I see it's never occurred to you that you were far better off without a heart."

She was about to protest, but he leaned in close and whispered in her ear. "Let me take it away. You can go back to how it was before. No pain, no anger."

'_But no good feelings, either.'_ She felt shaky all over, but a part of her remained certain that he was wrong. It was worth it to have a heart. She _wanted_ this heart. Back in Halloween Town, Jack and Sally had asked the townspeople to think of something that made them feel happy and strong. Naminé, too, in that moment, had come up with a thought like that, a warm feeling that had blossomed in her chest.

'_I want to keep this heart and I will fight for it if I have to.'_

Her mind made up, she went to lash out at the shade of Marluxia, but found she could not move. Her eyes darted downwards, and she realized in horror that he was standing on her shadow. _'He's nothing more than a shadow, he's nothing to be afraid of!'_ she screamed in her mind. But still, she could not move.

He took that wicked scythe and held it to her neck. "Yes, unfortunately for you, we are much more powerful here, fear or no fear."

'_Here? So this __**is**__ the Domain of Shadows!'_

Before he could do anything else to her, the door was flung open once again. "HEY, you leave her alone!"

The shout distracted Marluxia just enough. Naminé stumbled away from him, able to move again. Sora was standing there, Keyblade in hand, glaring at the shade of Marluxia. The annoyance on his face vanished once he saw Sora. "How good of you to join us," he smirked, then turned his wicked gaze onto Naminé. Terror filled at her at what he may say or do to Sora.

Once again, Marluxia darted over to Naminé, seizing a fistful of her hair and yanking. She cried out in pain.

"I told you to _leave her alone_!" Sora shouted, running at Marluxia with his Keyblade, who dodged the blow easily, his grip still firm on Naminé. He maneuvered her in front of her, using her has a shield.

"And why do you care, Sora?" Marluxia asked idly. "What is this girl to you? It's not as though you remember her."

Sora faltered a moment. It was true – he couldn't remember where he had met Naminé before. But he did know her somehow, and he was sure he wanted to protect her. It was as if his heart remembered her, but his mind still had some catching up to do. "It doesn't matter if I remember her or not, she's one of us and that's what matters!"

"Sora..." Tears gathered in her eyes.

Marluxia only smirked in reply. "Are you so sure? You deserve to know what this girl did to you."

At this, Naminé panicked. "NO!" she screamed, trying to wrench herself from Marluxia's grip.

Sora faltered again, more confused than ever. "Naminé...what's he – " An image flashed in his mind – this man, this member of Organization XIII, knocking Naminé aside...but Naminé and Sora were much younger then...

"This is so strangely familiar, isn't it, Keybearer."

"STOP IT! Sora, please, don't listen!" Naminé shouted. Sora couldn't remember, not like this! Her panic gave her strength and she struggled again to wrench herself from Marluxia's grasp; he refused to let go and twisted her arm painfully.

"This is the last time I'm gonna tell you to leave her alone!" Sora cried, furious now, leaping at Marluxia, Keyblade swinging. Marluxia parried the blow, and they began to duel in earnest.

Naminé backed away from the fight, bumping into the white table behind her. She was frozen in fear. But Sora, for all his determination, wasn't quick enough for the shade of Marluxia. It was true – they were much more powerful in the Domain of Shadows. Sora was knocked hard to the ground, and she could see he was bleeding from a fresh cut on his cheek.

_He was hurt because of her. Again._

Marluxia was walking slowly towards Sora, scythe held at the ready, like a cat stalking its prey. Terror filled Naminé's heart, though she was no longer frightened for herself. She would not let this mere illusion of Marluxia harm Sora, just because she was still afraid of Marluxia.

It felt as if her feet were moving by themselves. She was running toward Sora, and she could hear her voice crying for the fight to stop. She darted in front of Sora and faced Marluxia, throwing her arms wide open.

"Don't you hurt him, when this is all my fault!" she shouted, her eyes squeezed shut. She waited to feel the scythe cut through her, but the blow never came. Still, she didn't open her eyes. Everything was quiet, save for the sound of Sora's heavy breathing behind her.

"Castle Oblivion," she said, the words escaping before she could even think about stopping them. "That's where we met before. You defeated the real Marluxia there. You were protecting me. Even though I'd never deserve it. But...but you don't remember any of that, and it's all my fault. It's because of me. T-They...had me manipulate your memories. So they could control you. But I-I went further than that. I was so...so lonely, and scared and selfish. That's why...I took all of your memories of Kairi and replaced her with me. But they were hurting you." Her voice broke, and she felt tears gathering beneath her closed eyes. "I had to make you forget me, and Marluxia, and everything about Castle Oblivion to fix your memories. It took...it took a whole year. That's why everyone forgot you. That's why you lost a whole year of your life. Because of me. Because it's my fault. That's why I'm not worth protecting. S-So please..."

Everything was quiet. A part of her was still waiting to feel the blow from the scythe meant for Sora, but she didn't want to open her eyes and see if Marluxia was even still there. Finally, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she forced herself to open her eyes.

The illusory Marluxia was gone, and Sora was standing in front of her, resting a hand on her shoulder. His eyes were a little confused, but there was a small, hesitant smile on his face. "Hey, it's okay," he said softly.

She didn't answer at first, searching his face. His blue eyes were wide and honest. "It's...it's okay?" she whispered back.

He smiled a little wider. "Sure it is!" He reached out and stretched her face into smile, something he'd done a long time ago but didn't remember. "Besides, for some reason, I really don't like it when you cry."

She swatted his hands away, her heart light and free. The fake Marluxia couldn't have been more wrong. Her heart wasn't a prison at all.

"How about we talk later, when this is all over," Sora said. "The others are in trouble, and we gotta go."

"Okay," she answered, taking in a shaky breath. She took one last long look around the white room, and made a silent resolution to leave this room and never lay eyes on it again.

She turned to Sora, and gave him a shy smile. "Let's go find the rest of our friends."

He smiled and nodded back, and opened the door.

But he immediately recoiled; standing in the doorway was the Shadow Enchantress.

"Is that...?" Naminé spoke up from behind him. He nodded vaguely, tense and ready to fight if necessary, but something seemed different this time.

Somehow she looked much older now, and she was still holding her magic rod, but loosely, as though it caused her tremendous effort to hold onto. With a start, Sora realized this was the _real_ Enchantress, no longer possessed by Chernabog.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sora asked in alarm.

She didn't answer, but thrust the rod towards him, dropping it onto the floor. "He...mustn't have it. He must not win..."

"Believe me, we won't let him!" Sora said, overly cheerful, but his words didn't seem to do anything to bolster the Enchantress. He reached out for her, but suddenly she was engulfed in a tower of greenish flames. He jumped back, yelping in horror, and when the flames died down as suddenly as they had appeared, the Enchantress was gone.

"What was _that_ all about?" Naminé burst out after a stunned silence.

Sora shook his head. "I figured out this demon called Chernabog's been behind everything...I guess she was able to break away from his control for a minute." He stared at the spot where she had just been standing. "I guess...Chernabog didn't like that too much," he said, determined once again to stop the demon's plot once and for all.

Sora was suddenly struck by another moment of clarity. "Just a little bit ago...he was telling me he's gonna 'break' all of us, and he said all my friends will be first. I think...that's what all this was about," he said, gesturing towards the white room. "I think he separated us so he could show us all something awful."

"Something we're afraid of, maybe..." Naminé mused. She looked down at the magic rod, still on the floor. "What's this?"

"It's a staff, for doing magic, you know? She – er, that is, Chernabog – tried to attack me with it earlier. I guess that's why the Enchantress tried so hard to get it away from her, so he couldn't do that again," Sora mused aloud.

Naminé nodded, bending down and reaching for the rod. As soon as she took it into her hand, there was a brief flash of light, and it seemed to come alive in her grasp.

Sora blinked. "Whoa."

"I...think I'll just take this with me," Naminé said.

"Can you...do magic or something?" Sora asked.

Naminé stared down at the rod in her hands. "I have no idea, I've never done any magic before," she said slowly. "But I'm gonna try." She _had_ to fight somehow, even if she didn't have a Keyblade. "And if that fails...then I could always just hit people over the head with it."

Sora grinned, stepping out of the room and gesturing for her to follow. "I like the way you think, Naminé!"

She smiled back and hurried after him, eager to truly leave this place behind. All of a sudden, something occurred to her. "Sora," she said as they hurried along, "what sort of awful thing will he try and show you?"

Sora's grin faded. The sooner they could leave this place, the better.

* * *

Riku was frustrated.

He was in the dark and soulless chapel of Hollow Bastion's castle, trapped by the fearsome dragon form of the witch known as Maleficent.

Or rather, he was in an _illusion_ of the chapel, trapped there by a shade of Maleficent. And that – the illusory nature of his predicament – was so frustrating to him. There was no time to remain here, held up by a vision of someone he had overcome long ago.

'_I don't have time for this!'_ he thought, his impatience making him reckless, dodging under a burst of greenish fire and swinging wildly at the dragon's arms with his Keyblade. Each blow missed its mark, and Riku was forced to retreat.

He held his Keyblade in a defensive position, gritting his teeth. "Look at you, you can't even talk!" he shouted at the shade of Maleficent. The dragon's mouth opened in a grotesque imitation of a grin.

"Hey!"

"Riku!"

Startled, he turned to see that Sora and Naminé had found him. Sora already had his Keyblade ready to use against the dragon, and Naminé was holding something as well, though Riku didn't get a good look at it before she cried out in alarm, pointing behind him. Riku whirled back to see the dragon nearly on top of him, one great arm pulled back, ready to strike. He haphazardly dodged to the side, avoiding the worst of the blow, at least. But he could not avoid it entirely and he stumbled back, a terrible stinging pain in his upper arm. The wound wasn't bleeding much, but the flesh was red and raw, in the vague shape of the dragon's claws.

"Hey, pick on somebody else for a change!" Sora was yelling, charging towards the dragon, ready to attack. He had recognized Maleficent's dragon form instantly, and its significance for Riku.

While the dragon was distracted, Naminé hurried toward Riku and knelt beside him, clutching the strange rod in her hands. It had suddenly occurred to her that defensive magic existed as well as offensive magic. She closed her eyes. Magic...she'd read all about magic in the Old Mansion, in its extensive library. The power was already in her, she just needed to use the staff to channel it. She pictured the raw energy leaving her as a healing energy. Through her eyelids she could see a sudden flash of green, and when she opened her eyes, the staff in her hands was glowing a pale green.

Riku stared in surprise as the wound on his arm promptly stopped bleeding, and the stinging sensation melted away. There was still a faded red mark, but the injury, minor as it had been, was no longer any sort of hindrance.

Naminé stared at Riku for a moment, it hardly registering at first that she had just performed a sloppy but nevertheless effective Cure spell on him. Excitement coursed through her and she jumped to her feet. "I did it! I actually did magic!" she cried, beaming, despite the fact that the floor seemed to spin a bit when she had gotten so suddenly to her feet. So she wasn't going to be able to do much magic, then.

For a moment, Riku forgot all about the stupid dragon at the look on Naminé's face. She looked simply like a child on Christmas morning. He grinned back.

"Hey, if you're all fixed up over there, I could use a hand!" Sora shouted from the other end of the room.

The bubble burst and Riku got back to his feet, clutching his Keyblade, his expression resigned.

Naminé, too, grew serious at his expression. "What...or who, is that supposed to be?"

"Maleficent," was the brisk reply.

Naminé's eyes widened. She knew vaguely of the witch that had once held such power over Riku. When he had been brought to the Old Mansion by DiZ, badly injured, she had heard him whisper the name in the midst of a fever-induced nightmare. She knew that a part of him still feared her, but above all, he was ashamed of himself for being so taken in with Maleficent's lies in the first place.

"Riku," she said quietly. "It's okay. I-I wasn't proud of who I saw, either."

Riku froze. Was that it? Was it a matter of his pride? Did his frustration stem not just from the fact that he was forced to waste so much time here, but also from his reluctance to admit that he was still afraid of her, and afraid of what he himself had been capable of?

He was sick of his inability to let go of the past.

Filled with a newfound determination, Riku charged at the dragon, unleashing a flurry of attacks that it could barely keep up with. Finally, his Keyblade found its mark, plunging into the dragon's heart. It let out one more feral roar and fell backwards, fading away into a green smoke that quickly dissipated.

But the ghosts of his past still existed. He knew that now, and he knew there was no use abusing himself at it. He looked at the place where the dragon had once been. "I'll deal with you for real later," he said quietly.

Sora and Naminé came to stand beside him. Riku turned to Naminé. "So who did you see?" he asked, somewhat abruptly.

"Marluxia," she answered quietly.

He nodded, then looked back to the rod in her hands. "What was all that about?" he asked, pointing to it. Sora launched into an explanation of how he had figured out Chernabog's identity, and how the demon was attempting to break their spirits by separating them and conjuring up some frightening illusion. Sora explained how the Enchantress had seemingly broken free of Chernabog's control just long enough to give them her staff.

"That was the first time you've ever done magic?" Riku asked Naminé, one eyebrow raised. She nodded, giving a little half-shrug.

"That's...impressive."

She smiled shyly.

"You guys were both great and all, but we oughta get going," Sora spoke up. "We still need to find Roxas and Kairi." The three began to move towards the exit.

Riku threw one more quick glance over his shoulder as they left, but Sora caught it.

"Hey, if Maleficent ever shows up again – er, for real – she'll have to go through all of us to get to you," he said firmly.

"I doubt I'm that high on her list of priorities," Riku retorted.

"Maleficent's...still around?" Naminé asked. "You guys haven't defeated her?"

"She likes coming back," Riku answered dryly.

Sora was reaching for the door. "Yeah, last I saw, she was hanging around the Castle that..." He trailed off, staring in confusion. "...Never Was."

Suddenly, the three of them were standing in the Organization's stronghold in the World That Never Was.

"O...kay..." Sora murmured. The three cautiously took a few steps forward, and suddenly Sora was struck with how familiar it was to be wandering around the now-empty corridors of the place.

"Hey, Riku," he began.

"Mm?"

"There's, um, something I've never told you."

Riku raised an eyebrow, though his friend had always been full of surprises, and he'd long since gotten used to the unusual things that occasionally came out of Sora's mouth. "Yeah?"

"After we got home...I kept having these dreams where I was walking around here, just like we are now. Turns out it was Roxas, kinda...calling out to me. We'd been talking in my dreams for a while when all this...craziness started."

That was news to both Naminé and Riku. So Sora could still surprise Riku once in a while. "Why are you telling me this now?" Riku asked.

"Because this is just how those dreams were," Sora frowned. "I think...no, I'm sure – Roxas is around here somewhere.


	12. Ave Maria

**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**

_Chapter 12: Ave Maria _

_Notes: Once again, another chapter that took for-freaking-ever! School started up again at the beginning of September, and I decided to join a sorority this year, so between that, classes, and homework, I've had very little free time or energy for writing. But, things at school shouldn't be too bad for a while, so hopefully I'll be able to get a lot of writing done. I especially hope to get chapter 13 out relatively soon, just because I am SO excited to write that one._

_Curious about the chapter title? Look no further than the original __Fantasia__ – Chernabog made his film debut in the sequence "Night on Bald Mountain", which leads into __Fantasia__'s last sequence: "Ave Maria". Rewatching those two sequences actually gave me a lot of inspiration as to how the climax should play out._

_In case you're curious, in the beginning of this chapter, Roxas also references the events of my oneshot __Through the Glass__._

_

* * *

_Roxas was confused.

He was standing in the middle of Proof of Existence, an eerie, tomblike chamber in the Castle That Never Was that housed thirteen stone monuments to Organization XIII. And he could not remember how he had come to be there.

He had been with Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Naminé...or at least, he thought he had. Yes, he was sure of it – they were going to fix the problems with the shadows. Where were the others, then? Something about the room felt off, and the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that maybe it had something to do with what happened to his friends. Roxas began to comb the room for clues, when suddenly it struck him like a thunderbolt what felt so wrong about this room: every marker glowed red to designate that its owner no longer existed. Including Roxas's own marker.

Before he could ponder that omen any longer, he heard the door behind him open. He whirled to see Sora standing there, a vaguely puzzled look on his face. "Oh," Sora said. "You're still here?"

"Wh...Of course I'm still here, what are you talking about?" Roxas asked.

"Oh, nothing. I guess I just figured you would've given up by now," Sora answered, and Roxas felt a chill run up his spine at Sora's disinterested, almost frosty tone.

"Sora, what is _wrong_ with you?" Roxas exclaimed, coming forwards to grip Sora by his shoulders. "Come on, we have stuff to do! Domain of Shadows? Your friends? Any of this ringing a bell?"

Sora fixed him with a quizzical look. "No...Geez, are you going bonkers in here or what?"

"A-And that's another thing! I don't remember how I got here."

At this, Sora grinned and tapped Roxas on the forehead. "I put you here. Duh."

Roxas recoiled as if burned. "_W-What?_"

Sora shrugged. "Well, I dunno, they wouldn't let you keep that body, and sharing my head got kinda freaky after a while, sooo..."

"No, that can't..." Roxas trailed off, struggling to make sense of this. He must have been unconscious or something for a long while; how else could all of that have happened and Roxas not remember any of it? And there was something so off about Sora. He stared at the boy in front of him, his supposed other half, and everything felt all wrong. Sora would care, he was sure of it.

"Who are you?" Roxas said then, growing angry. "You aren't Sora. There's no way you're the Sora I know."

Sora just laughed. "Sure, I'm Sora! But it wouldn't really matter if I wasn't, would it? I mean, you're still stuck here." He turned, and began to walk out of the room.

"Don't you dare leave without giving me answers!" Roxas shouted after him, but somehow he couldn't move.

"It's just the way things are," he heard Sora say, shutting the door behind him with a resounding thud. As soon as the door shut, Roxas could move again.

"NO!" he screamed, slamming his fist into the door. "Open this door!" He pounded it again, and again, and suddenly it swung open, sending Roxas stumbling out of that dark room.

Wherever he had ended up was much brighter, and he threw up a hand to shield his eyes. Blinking, he realized with a start he was in Twilight Town.

He heard footsteps thundering behind him, and he stumbled out of the way, in time to see three painfully familiar kids tear up the street past him.

"No," he whispered. Not them, too. "Wait!" he called, breaking into a run after them, realizing they were heading for the Usual Spot. They paid him no mind.

"Hayner! Pence! O-Olette!" he shouted, but they didn't stop, they didn't even slow down. He could hear their happy chatter in the distance. Once again he was invisible to them, and once again it tore his heart in two.

Nevertheless he chased after them, towards their Usual Spot, and shoved the heavy curtain aside. He found himself standing not inside the hideout, but atop Twilight Town's clock tower.

He looked around in confusion, and suddenly from behind him, he heard applause, a single person clapping their hands slowly. Roxas whirled around, and his eyes widened at the figure in front of him.

"Bravo, Roxas. _Bravo_," Axel drawled, a bitter smile on his face.

Roxas could only stare at first. There were a hundred different things he wanted to say. "I'm...I'm so sorry," he choked out finally.

Axel came toward him. "Oh, I bet you're _sorry_," he sneered. Roxas flinched. "Sorry now that you picked Sora over me."

"I...I just wanted answers," he said, struggling to keep his voice even.

"And you didn't give a damn who got caught in the crossfire."

"No! That isn't it, I just never thought..."

Axel took another step forward. "Yeah, that's right, you never thought. Never thought that what you did affected everybody else. The Nobody with the Keyblades, Xemnas's little golden boy."

"I-I never wanted any of that," Roxas said.

"What, you think I wanted anything that happened to me?" Axel snapped. "Getting my heart eaten, that was a blast. And then I went and wasted my time – no, my _life_ – on you."

"Stop it," Roxas said weakly. "I...I said I was sorry."

"Cute," Axel snorted. "You know what else was cute? When I came to save you from DiZ and you didn't remember me. Just how Sora doesn't really seem to care anything about you any more, either. Funny how things go full circle like that." He began to walk in circles around Roxas, the way a predator stalks his prey. "What goes around comes around, and around, and around."

Something inside Roxas snapped. "**How many times do you want me to say I'm sorry?**" he screamed, tears pricking his eyes. "You think I don't think about what happened to you every day? You think I don't regret how things ended? _Every day, I wish I could go back_ – !"

Suddenly Axel grabbed him roughly by the collar, and it was only then that Roxas realized how close they were to the edge of the clock tower.

"You can say you're sorry all you want," Axel said in a low voice, leaning in close to Roxas. "But that's never going to change a thing. Doesn't change that my best friend never cared about what I had to say. Doesn't change that I actually _died_ for you." He extended his arm outward, grip still firm on Roxas's shirt, so that Roxas was dangling over the edge of the clock tower.

"And even though it won't change a thing...a life for a life feels pretty good." And Axel let go.

Roxas was falling, falling forever, but somehow it didn't matter. All that mattered was what he had known all along, deep down: there could never be a destiny for him, for someone who wasn't meant to exist in the first place, for someone whose existence had never brought anything but suffering.

Everything was dark and he was still falling, or at least it seemed as though he was. Maybe he would fall forever.

"_...xas? ...Roxas?"_

He frowned. It sounded like Sora. "...Sora?"

"_Yeah, I'm here...This is really weird, I can hear you, but I can't see you. We gotta figure out how to get you out of there."_

"But you said you wanted me here."

"_What...? No, that's not right, I want you right here with me." _There was a pause. _"Roxas...you do know that whatever you're seeing right now isn't real, don't you?" _

"It's...not real?"

"_Nope, it's not. It's just an illusion, meant to trip you up and hurt you."_

And he wanted to believe that. Roxas wanted to believe that was true with every fiber of his being. Because if the things he had seen were not true, then Sora did still want him around. And maybe Axel, wherever he was, didn't really hate him.

And maybe there was still a destiny for him.

"Sora," he choked. "Help me."

"_Hey. What do you think I've been trying to do all this time?"_ came the gentle reply.

Roxas reached out into the darkness, and felt a hand close around his wrist. He was being pulled to his feet. He stumbled along a little in the darkness but he kept going, and gradually the blackness around him began to lift. The first thing he could make out was Sora's face, worried but at the same time relieved at the sight of Roxas.

"That was weird," Sora murmured. "You just kinda...appeared out of nowhere."

Roxas stumbled again, suddenly exhausted, his head spinning. He had been falling for so long.

"Whoa, easy, there," Sora said, taking hold of Roxas by the shoulders, and easing them both into a kneeling position. "What happened?"

Roxas didn't answer at first, just gripped Sora's arms. He knew Riku and Naminé were standing there, and they all had things to do, and he knew that he needed to pull himself together, but he was exhausted.

"I saw Axel," he finally mumbled.

Sora bit his lip. He had been afraid of that. He didn't know much about what had occurred between Roxas and Axel, but he knew enough. "I'm sorry," he said finally. Axel's final moments came flooding back to Sora...what was it he'd said?

_He was the only one who made me feel like I had a heart._ And then he was gone, leaving a (at the time) inexplicable ache in Sora's heart and a Keychain in his hand.

Sora's eyes widened. "H-hey," he said to Roxas, letting go of Roxas's shoulders and digging into his own pockets. He realized briefly that he was out of Potions; they were going to have to rely on Naminé's newfound healing powers to keep their stamina up during the fight they all knew was coming. He rummaged around his pockets, until his hand closed around the Keychain he wanted.

Roxas was still staring at the floor. Sora took hold of his hand, and placed the Keychain in it. The ends of it were sharp in his palm, and when he looked at it, it jolted him out of the state of shock he was in. "But this is..."

"It's called Bond of Flame," Sora said helpfully, sitting back on his heels. "Go ahead, try it out."

Hesitantly, Roxas summoned his Keyblade, and attached the Keychain Sora had given him. His Keyblade was surrounded in a bright light as it changed shape, and for a moment Roxas could only stare at the Keyblade now in his hand. It felt light and familiar, and powerful, even though he knew he'd never actually held it before. The blade of it looked exactly like one of the chakrams Axel had always used to fight with.

Roxas turned to Sora, who was watching him eagerly. "What are you...?" Roxas trailed off, unsure how to vocalize his thoughts.

"Well, you ought to have it," Sora said. "I, er, would've given it to you sooner, except I kinda forgot I had it," he said sheepishly. Suddenly he sobered. "I'm sorry, Roxas. I'm sorry that I couldn't save Axel. Or help you."

Roxas looked at him, surprised at the genuine regret in Sora's face. Sora was full of surprises. "You don't have anything to be sorry for," he said. "It's not your fault."

Sora bit his lip. "Well...it's not yours, either," he said, and gestured to the Keyblade in Roxas's hand. "The way I see it...if he blamed you for what happened, we wouldn't have that."

Riku watched the scene before him with growing astonishment. While he and Kairi had both been growing closer to Naminé as a result of their ordeal, for some reason it had never occurred to him that the same could have been happening with Sora and Roxas. And he was surprised by Sora's revelation that he and Roxas had been communicating within Sora's dreams. He'd had no idea that anything like that was even possible.

Watching the two of them interact as friends, Riku realized he wanted very much for Roxas and Naminé to stay separate from Sora and Kairi. He already considered Naminé a friend he didn't want to lose, but in that moment Riku realized how much it would hurt Sora to have to say goodbye to Roxas.

"If you're okay now, we really need to go find Kairi," Sora was saying to Roxas. At the mention of Kairi, Riku snapped back to attention.

"Yeah, I'm getting worried about her," he spoke up.

"Me too," Sora frowned, as he and Roxas got to their feet. "I hope she's doing okay." He started for the exit, pausing to clap a hand on Roxas's shoulder and give him one more questioning look.

Roxas nodded, a silent affirmation that he was fine. Actually, he wasn't sure if he was fine at all, but for now, the important thing was ending this long ordeal for once and for all. The others hurried out of the illusory Proof of Existence, but Roxas paused a moment, holding up Bond of Flame in the dim light and studying it.

He wanted so much to believe that Sora was right, and that Bond of Flame was proof that Axel didn't blame him. But the vision he had seen of Axel had his heart in an icy grip.

Roxas shouldered his Keyblade and hurried after the others.

* * *

Kairi was running.

She didn't know who or what she was running from, but nevertheless, she was gripped with an intense fear that she couldn't stop running. She wasn't even sure where she was. She caught glimpses of the scenery as it blurred past her, and it looked like some kind of little town. There were rows of narrow, tall houses with thatched roofs; the town was lit with an eerie green glow. All around her were grotesque creatures that bared their teeth at her as she ran by, and let out spine-tingling screams and growls. There were no people in that strange, horror-filled place.

Kairi began to notice things that didn't fit. For a brief second her shoes would be slapping against blue flagstone instead of dirt roads. And out of the corner of her eye she would glimpse not one of the monsters, or even one of the shadow creatures, but a Heartless. At one point she was sure she saw a group of Heartless tearing up a meticulously planted flower bed.

And then she saw the people. Suddenly there were transparent, ghostly people running alongside her. She faltered at a bit at the sight of them, frightened, but they were moving so fast that she had to keep running.

One by one, the apparitions – men and women, young and old – turned to stare at her as they ran, their stern eyes staring right through her.

"What is it?" she cried, more unnerved than ever. "Why are you staring at me?"

"Because you don't remember," one of the women snapped at her, her voice clear even though her body was transparent.

"Remember what?" Kairi cried in surprise.

"Your home!" the woman snarled.

Kairi skidded to a halt. This was definitely not Destiny Islands...was this supposed to be the home she didn't remember, the home before Destiny Islands was home? The brief appearances of the Heartless...had they torn it apart?

There was the ghost of a small boy at her side. "Why did you get to grow up and I didn't?" he asked plaintively, tugging at Kairi's wrist. It felt as though she were drenched in ice water and she stumbled. She lost her footing and sprawled to the ground.

Kairi could feel the Heartless pulling at her legs, trying to drag her away, or was that the waves of the sea lapping at her ankles? Was it sand scraping her cheek, or rough stone? She could remember the concerned fisherman gathering her small body into his arms and taking her to the mayor's villa. But she could remember nothing before that.

"Why aren't I strong enough to remember?" she whispered.

The ghostly people were still running down the street; Kairi could see their feet as they ran past her, still sprawled on the ground. But then two little pairs of feet stopped in front of her, and she looked up to see Riku and Sora, looking down at her with expectant expressions on their faces. It was not Riku and Sora as she knew them now, but rather as the children she had first met all those years ago.

Kairi had been a withdrawn, shy child those first few years on Destiny Islands. She was homesick for a place and for people that she could not remember; those were complicated emotions for such a small child.

But it had never bothered Sora or Riku that she didn't know where she was from. Sora was always there to distract her with a new game or a silly face, and Riku had always been able to tell when she just needed a little peace and quiet.

She was afraid of the past she couldn't remember. But perhaps it was time to face that fear, to ask where she had come from.

And she was going to do it with Riku and Sora by her side.

It all came back to the forefront of her mind – the shadows, Roxas and Naminé, the fight ahead. This was no time to be lying there, afraid.

Now there were shadow creatures grabbing at her legs, not Heartless. She kicked at them, trying to get back on her feet, but they were strong.

She knew what she had to do, but she wasn't sure she could do it. She held out her hand and focused, thinking of the Keyblade, and how she could use Riku's, and how even though it felt awkward and heavy in her grip, it felt _right_.

There was a flash of light, and the Keyblade – _her_ Keyblade – appeared in her hand. There was no time to waste. Kairi twisted around and swung it. It connected somewhat clumsily with the shadows, which cried out and vanished.

She clambered to her feet. It was going to take a lot of practice before she was even half as good with a Keyblade as Sora or Riku or even Roxas, but at least it would get the job done.

"_Kairi...! Where are you?"_

"Sora!" she shouted back. "I'm here!"

By now, the strange place she was in had stopped taunting her with images of what she supposed was her past. Now she was standing on a dirt road, surrounded by tall, narrow, rustic-looking houses.

"_Kairi!"_ That was Riku's voice.

"I'm here!" she called out again, running off in the direction of the voice. She ran, darting around a corner, and there were her friends, looking for her.

"Guys!" she cried out in relief, hurrying towards them. Riku and Sora were there to meet her, and she abruptly threw her arms around both of them.

She felt Riku's hand on the small of her back. "You okay?" he asked. She pulled away, nodding.

"Did you see something?" Sora asked her, his voice concerned.

"I did," Kairi answered. "But I'm all right. Now that everyone's here," she added, when Sora did not look entirely convinced.

"What is this place?" Naminé asked then, as she and Roxas rejoined the three. Those strange monsters – not Heartless and not shadows – were lumbering about the streets, crawling on the houses. "And what are those things?" Naminé added.

"Those are my minions," came another voice behind him.

The five whirled to behold, once again, the Shadow Enchantress.

Sora stepped forward, his expression triumphant. "Bet you weren't expecting the Enchantress to actually fight back!" he said, speaking not to the Enchantress herself, but to Chernabog.

"She" eyed Sora boredly. "Yes, well, I was able to recover her before she did too much damage."

"Looks like it's too late for you anyway!" Sora shot back. "Your plan to go and break all of us didn't go so well, either! The prophecy says all five of us will take you down. Face it, Chernabog – this is the end of the line for you!"

This hardly seemed to faze her at all; in fact, she smirked at him. "How do you intend to defeat me without harming this vessel?" she asked, gesturing toward herself.

Sora frowned. It was true; they couldn't just enter the fight blindly, they would likely harm the innocent Shadow Enchantress if they did. But there had to be some way to expel Chernabog. Sora summoned his Keyblade, and behind him he heard the others do the same.

She hardly looked intimidated. Instead, she turned her gaze to Naminé, still holding the staff that belonged to the Enchantress.

"Give that back, little girl," she said. "It doesn't belong to you."

Naminé clutched the staff tighter. "It doesn't belong to you, either!" she countered.

The others gathered around Naminé. "If you want it you're going to have to go through us," Riku said.

"Fine," was all that their enemy said, before forming a mass of dark energy in her hand and sending it towards them.

Sora's eyes widened and he slashed at it with his Keyblade. So, Chernabog could still use the Enchantress's powers without her staff. But the energy sent toward them was much weaker than what could be done with the staff.

"Try to reflect it off your Keyblade and send it back to her!" Sora called over his shoulder to his friends, rushing toward the Enchantress in the hopes of drawing her attention away from Naminé.

Sora was fast, but she was faster, dodging his blows and still managing to send more dark energy towards the others. "Why are you doing this?" Sora shouted suddenly, in the hopes of distracting her.

"Because I had power before you came along," she hissed. She outstretched her hand, gesturing to the town surrounding them. "I ruled this place as a god. The humans here knew never to stray outside once night fell. But then _you_ came along-! I wallowed in darkness after you defeated me, until I was handed that beautiful prophecy. I _will_ defeat you, and all the worlds will know fear me!"

Sora momentarily halted as her words sunk in. "Handed...? Someone..._gave_ you the prophecy?" he exclaimed. "Who?"

She only smirked at him in reply.

Meanwhile Naminé watched the battle begin and looked down at the staff in her hand, resentment building inside her. The others had to protect her because she was stuck with it instead of a Keyblade. But no, she couldn't think like that now. There had to be _something_ she could do.

She thought of the spells she knew of and could attempt; there were black magic spells, of course, like Fire and Blizzard. But anything they did to this demon Chernabog would hurt the Enchantress as well.

What did that leave? Cure spells?

But then a thought struck her. Cure spells came from a person's light, didn't they? And while she had never faced Chernabog before, as she understood it, he was a being of pure darkness.

Roxas was closest to her, and she grabbed him by the arm. "Cover me," she said. "I've got an idea."

"H-huh?"

But she was already crouched low to the ground, heading toward Sora and the Enchantress. Roxas hurried after her.

Once she was confident she was in range, Naminé took the staff in both hands and closed her eyes. She pictured the greenish healing energy leaving her body and entering the Shadow Enchantress, giving her strength but lessening Chernabog's dark powers.

She opened her eyes just as the staff in her hands flashed green. Just then, the Enchantress let out a horrible, low bellow of pain that could have only come from Chernabog himself.

"That actually worked," Naminé breathed. Once again, everything began to spin a little. If only she could control her magic a little better.

Roxas put a hand on her shoulder to steady her. "Can you stand?" he asked urgently. He had remembered something when Naminé's Cure spell managed to harm Chernabog: in the Underworld, when he and Sora had fought the Goddess of Fate Cup, they had killed the basilisk when their Keyblades had unleashed some kind of collective energy. If they could get that to happen again with all four Keyblades, surely it would be enough to defeat Chernabog, or at least drive him out of the Enchantress.

He helped Naminé to her feet and the two darted over to Sora while the Enchantress – Chernabog – was still reeling from Naminé's surprise attack.

"Sora!" Roxas began, but as he got close to the other, his and Sora's Keyblades began to react. Sora looked down at his Keyblade, then at Roxas, realizing the same thing Roxas had a second ago.

"_Guys!_" Sora shouted, hurrying towards Riku and Kairi. The five of them stood, shoulder to shoulder, just as the Enchantress recovered from Naminé's attack.

She looked at the five of them and a wicked grin spread across her face, mistakenly believing they had gathered together for protection.

"Where is your precious prophecy now?" she sneered. "Your destiny here is to fall."

Sora frowned, pointing his Keyblade directly at her. "You don't know much about people, do you. See, when someone tells us what our destiny is, we don't just roll over and accept it."

Roxas, Riku, and Kairi followed Sora's lead, pointing their Keyblades at the Enchantress as well. Even Naminé's staff was beginning to glow.

"We make our own destiny!" Sora exclaimed, just as beams light shot forth from all of their weapons, even Naminé's borrowed staff.

The Enchantress was completely engulfed in light. Suddenly the area shook with a terrible, guttural roar. When the sound and the light faded, the Shadow Enchantress, finally free of Chernabog's control, stood before them, swaying on her feet with her eyes half closed. She opened her mouth to say something, and promptly collapsed.

"H-Hey!" Sora exclaimed, rushing over to her. He held a hand to her face and felt her breath on his palm. He let out a little sigh of relief. So she wasn't dead, just unconscious. But there was no more time to tend to her. Sora heard Kairi give a warning cry, and he looked up just in time to see a fist, as big as he was and black as night, hurtling straight down toward him. He rolled out of the way just as the fist smashed into the place where he had been only a second before, deep cracks forming in the dirt from the impact.

Sora stumbled to his feet and back towards his friends. Hovering above them and nearly engulfing the sky was the demon Chernabog, his eyes glowing yellow.

"Whoo, boy," Sora muttered. But this was no time to falter. "We'll be okay as long as we stick together!" he called out.

"How are we supposed to fight something we can't reach?" Naminé asked.

"We wait for him to come to us," Roxas said. "Like just now when he tried to pancake Sora. That's when we strike back."

Naminé looked down at the staff in her hands, then back at Roxas. "What...what should I do?"

"You can heal now, right? So just keep us fighting until the end," he said.

She nodded, and was about to respond when there was a tremendous crash of lightning. Towering above them, Chernabog raised one fist in the air, and there was a terrible snarling sound as the five found themselves surrounded by his horrible minions.

Sora threw himself into the fray. The monsters were surprisingly strong, and it was difficult to keep afloat if he had to contend with more than two. They were strong, but slower than Sora, and he could at least use that to his advantage. He dodged and twisted and jumped, landing hit after hit.

One of the creatures launched itself at him, snarling, claws outstretched, and Sora dropped to the ground. Rolling under the monster, he swung his Keyblade upward and it pierced the monster in its stomach. It let out a horrible howl as Sora flung it off of his Keyblade. He spared a few seconds to watch it land with a sickening thud, and dissolve into an acrid, black smoke.

But then Sora noticed the dark shadow passing over him; he rolled away and leapt to his feet as a great, black, shadowy arm emerged from the ground and swung wildly at him. Sora slashed at it. Immediately there was a low rumble of thunder, and when Sora looked up, Chernabog's huge visage was twisted in a grimace of pain.

Sora smirked, more confident than ever. He had a strategy now.

The others were doing their best to keep up with the waves of minions Chernabog sent at them. Kairi, a little nervous and clumsy with a Keyblade, stuck close to Riku. Sensing her uncertainty, the monsters would attempt to separate the two.

While the creatures weren't particularly fast, Kairi struggled a little to keep up with them. She was so busy with the one directly in front of her, that it was only Riku's warning shout that saved her from an attack from the side. She dodged awkwardly, wincing as her ankle rolled under her. She quickly dispatched one of the creatures, Riku darting forward to take care of the other.

"You okay?" he asked, taking hold of her upper arm. Riku was always playing the role of the protective brother, even in the heat of a fight.

"Fine," Kairi grumbled, finding it was difficult to support her weight on the twisted ankle. It frustrated her far more than it pained her. The last thing she wanted to do was sit on the sidelines, and she'd gone and gotten herself hurt.

Naminé, who had been watching anxiously in case someone had been hurt, hurried to her side. "Let me try to fix it," she said urgently, holding out the staff in her hand.

Riku stood guard for a moment as Naminé began to heal Kairi's ankle, but then he noticed that Sora had turned his attention to Chernabog's shadowy arm. "Keep your guard up!" he called to Kairi and Naminé, running to join Sora. It was going to take a lot of time and a lot of effort to wear Chernabog down.

Riku slashed at the arm alongside Sora, but as soon as he did so, the shadowy visage disappeared.

"Where'd it go?" Sora exclaimed.

Before Riku could answer, something very heavy and very solid slammed into his side. The force of the blow knocked him off his feet, and his Keyblade flew out of his grasp. Riku rolled onto his back. Chernabog had materialized in a vaguely humanoid form, one with two legs and two arms, and was standing directly over him.

Riku realized by the time he had summoned his Keyblade back Chernabog would have already struck. He rolled out of the way, barely avoiding Chernabog's long, sharp claws.

"Riku!"

Riku turned in the direction of the shout in time to see Roxas, tossing his own Keyblade to Riku.

In one swift moment Riku caught it, leapt to his feet, and dealt Chernabog a harsh strike. His opponent let out a throaty cry of pain, and then vanished in a wisp of smoke.

"Thanks," Riku said as Roxas hurried over, handing him back his Keyblade and summoning his own. Roxas merely nodded in reply. Sora frowned, a little uneasy, now that Chernabog could suddenly materialize in front of any one of them. Maybe it was time for a new strategy. He was about to speak, when suddenly he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

Sora was not one to reflect on the past. But over the course of the next few days, he would spend a lot of time going over the single moment that came next.

"Sora!" he heard Roxas shout, and then for a few seconds everything was a blur. He felt someone shove him away, and he felt a sudden gust of wind brushing past his cheek. A tendril of black smoke wound its way through the air.

Sora realized it had been Chernabog. He would have been struck, if not for –

"_Roxas!"_ Sora whirled around in time to see Roxas drop to his knees, clutching at his side. Sora knelt in front of him, eyes wide; already he could see blood around the wound. "Why would you – I mean, you just...!" He whipped his head up, looking around. "N-Naminé!" he called. She was already hurrying over.

"I'm not dead," Roxas muttered finally, giving Sora a weak smirk. "No need to spaz out."

"Y-You're crazy!" Sora burst out, relieved that Roxas at least felt well enough to make a joke.

Naminé knelt next to the two, her expression serious. Roxas's wound was a lot more serious than anything else she had attempted to heal. But this was no time for self-doubt, she told herself. Keep everyone fighting until the end – that was the one thing she could do, and she intended to do it, no matter what.

She closed her eyes and concentrated, feeling the staff grow warm in her grasp. She sat there for what felt like a very long time, letting the magic flow out of her, until everything sounded like it was very far away. She felt herself begin to sway a little, and then there was a hand on her shoulder.

"That's good enough," she heard Roxas say, his voice concerned. Naminé ceased the flow of magic and opened her eyes. Indeed, he looked much better. There was color in his face again, and she could see the wound in his side was mostly healed.

"You need to keep fighting till the end, too," he said. "Thanks, Naminé."

She was disappointed she still couldn't completely heal anything remotely serious. But Roxas was right. She was going to pass out if she kept that up.

Meanwhile, Riku had been standing a little ways away, keeping watch. Everything was quiet; far too quiet for comfort. There was no way they had already defeated Chernabog. Was he biding his time, gearing up for another attack?

There was one other thing he didn't understand – they had forced Chernabog from the body of the Enchantress with the combined power of their Keyblades – or, maybe more accurately, the power of their light, since Naminé didn't have a Keyblade. But the five of them stood close together for protection while Naminé healed Roxas, and there hadn't been a single spark from anyone's Keyblade.

There was another low rumble of thunder, and Riku looked up. Chernabog was back, darkening the sky, smirking down at them. He turned his yellow gaze to Sora.

"_I will break you yet,"_ he boomed.

"Yeah, guess what?" Sora shouted up at him, coming forward a few steps. "You missed me!" He was growing angry now. It was time to put an end to this. But how? Their attacks seemed to have worn him down, and his minions were easy enough to defeat, but that wasn't enough.

Riku was puzzling the same thing. But just then, he felt his Keyblade move in his hand. Confused, he looked down at it; it lit up briefly, and then was still again. He looked over, and saw Sora eyeing his own weapon with the same puzzled expression.

Why had their Keyblades reacted? They weren't standing that near to each other, at least not any nearer than any of the others. Then it suddenly occurred to Riku that, with a giant ruler, one could draw a straight line between himself and Sora.

'_Is it that we have to stand in a certain position?'_

He wracked his brain for something, anything that had happened on their journey that would tell him how to gather their light and burn away Chernabog's darkness for once and for all.

A startled cry and the sound of metal hitting flesh told him Chernabog had summoned more minions. He had to think faster.

'_Light and dark – the prophecy.'_

He had read the prophecy in New Orleans. It had appeared on Naminé's sketchpad. What had it said...?

'_When darkness overtakes shadows, the two from darkness will join the other three, and so on, or something like that...' _

_C'mon, Riku, this needs all five of you to work!_

He looked around, startled at Mickey's voice, but the king was nowhere to be found.

'_All five of us...'_ And then it hit him.

'_A star cannot shine without all five points.'_

He whipped his head around. Sora was still mostly in the same spot.

"Sora, stay where you are! Don't move!" Riku shouted.

Sora looked up from destroying another minion. "Huh?" he called back.

"Just trust me!"

Sora looked a little doubtful, but he nodded, planting his feet and swinging at another monster.

Riku paused, trying to picture what Chernabog saw from his position high above them.

"Kairi, you go stand behind Sora!" he called. She complied, though she looked confused as well – until suddenly her Keyblade begin to give off a dull glow.

Riku nodded. "That's good, stay right there!" He turned to Naminé. "I need you to stand behind Kairi, sort of...diagonal to her."

She nodded slowly, and suddenly her face lit up. "Oh, it's a star, isn't it?" she called back. He nodded. The staff in her hands gave off a dim glow once she was in position.

Finally, Riku turned to Roxas.

"Behind you, right?" Roxas shouted, already almost in position.

As soon as Roxas was standing in the right spot, a beam of light burst from the tip of his Keyblade. The beam traveled over to Naminé, and when it did, the magic staff in her hands glowed just as brightly. The beam of light traveled to each one of them, glowing brighter every time, tracing the pattern of a five-pointed star. Chernabog's minions dissolved as the light passed by them. The ray of light hovered in the center of the star created by the five friends, before rocketing upward and striking Chernabog dead center.

For a moment everything was engulfed in bright, blinding light. If Sora had been able to look, he would have seen the light burning away at Chernabog's body, until there was nothing left. An inhuman scream rocked the small town.

When the light faded away, everything was bathed in the pale yellow light of dawn. Far in the distance, they could hear church bells ringing.

"Is it...over?" Sora heard Kairi say.

There was a soft groan, and Sora saw the Shadow Enchantress, rousing herself from unconsciousness. He'd completely forgotten about her. He ran over to her and bent down, reaching out a hand to help her up. "Hi, I'm Sora," he chirped. "How are you feeling?"

She gave him a weak smile and allowed him to help her to her feet. "I feel much better, thanks to you," she said, her voice soft and melodic.

Roxas didn't feel right. At first he figured that was to be expected; Chernabog had gotten him pretty good, and Naminé, through no fault of her own, hadn't been able to heal it all the way. But as Sora tended to the Enchantress, a sharp pain shot through his side, and he dropped to his knees.

"Roxas?" he heard Naminé say, and after a moment he felt her hand on his shoulder. She sounded very far away to him, as the world began to spin out of control. It was getting hard to breathe. He collapsed on the hard dirt, unable to hold himself up any longer.

"_Roxas!"_

At Naminé's panicked shout, Sora turned from the Shadow Enchantress. His grin faded.

"What happened?" he called, rushing over to where Roxas had fallen.

Naminé shook her head. "I don't know, he just-!"

"H-Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Sora asked, taking hold of Roxas's hand and trying to keep the panic out of his own voice.

"Hurts to breathe..." Roxas said through clenched teeth.

"Don't worry, you're gonna be fine." Sora was babbling, and he knew it. The Shadow Enchantress had followed him over, and he turned to her with pleading eyes. "Can you help him?"

Her expression was grave. "Did Chernabog strike him?"

"Y-Yeah, but Naminé mostly healed it!"

The Enchantress shook her head. "He has been poisoned."

"Can't you fix it?" Sora exclaimed.

"I cannot. There are great restrictions on my powers."

Sora vaguely remembered Yen Sid telling them something along those lines. Her next words made him feel as though he had been drenched in ice water.

"Even if I were allowed to help, I could not. The poison isn't like most poisons. He has been poisoned by pure darkness. None of us have any sway over whether he lives or dies."

"D-Dies!" Sora repeated. "He's not going to _die_!"

Naminé turned her gaze to the Enchantress. She was still holding her staff. "If you're not going to try anything, I will!" She knelt next to Roxas and closed her eyes, wishing with all her might that this would work. It _had_ to. But she had already used so much magic for someone who had never even tried it before. She thought she heard someone calling her name, but she ignored it. She felt her hands begin to tremble, but she kept going. She had to help Roxas.

She felt someone gripping her shoulder. "Naminé," she heard Riku say, his tone gentle. "Stop."

Her concentration broke and the staff dropped from her hands. Exhausted, she collapsed against Riku. "I-I couldn't," she choked, and he drew an arm around her shoulders.

For all of Naminé's effort, Roxas was no better. Riku looked from the stricken boy, to Sora's horrified eyes, and then to the Enchantress, who remained silent and still.

"He's hurt because he was trying to help you!" Riku burst out. "You're really just gonna stand there and do _nothing_?"

"There is nothing I can do," she repeated simply.

"T-This is crazy," Sora said suddenly, his voice trembling. He looked down at Roxas. "You can't die, Roxas...Yen Sid was wrong about you, all wrong. There is a destiny for you, I know there is! And it's here, with me, and Riku, and Naminé, and Kairi! You can't die, we...we all have to go home together!"

Roxas didn't answer. His breathing was shallow and ragged. Sora didn't let go of his hand, even as he felt Roxas's pulse, the proof of his beating heart, grow slower and slower.

Far off in the distance, the church bells were still ringing.


	13. A Strong Heart

**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**

_Chapter 13: A Strong Heart_

_Notes: ...Woohoo, I finally manage to update in under a month! XD School is a bit nuts right now but I should have time to write over Thanksgiving break. And then of course after that it's finals, and I will probably want to curl up in a ball and die. But! Assuming I survive, hopefully this story will be finished by Christmas. We don't have much left, folks! _

_

* * *

_Roxas opened his eyes, and immediately shut them again. It was far too bright.

There was a breeze tickling his cheek. He tried opening his eyes again, slowly this time. A spectacular sunset of pinks, yellows, and purples spread out in front of him. Suddenly, it hit him where he was – he was standing atop the Twilight Town clock tower.

He was at the side of the tower. He rested his palm against the sun-warmed stucco. "How did I get here?" he mumbled.

Before, he had been here as part of an illusion. But he felt inexplicably calm here, and he knew this time, there was no illusion.

Roxas stepped carefully around the edge of the clock tower, so that he was standing on the front edge of it. The whole of Twilight Town was spread out below him, but the spectacular sight hardly registered.

Axel was sitting there, legs dangling over the edge of the clock tower. He turned, completely unsurprised to see Roxas standing there, gaping at him. "Roxas," he greeted. "C'mere. We need to talk."

Somehow, Roxas remained sure this wasn't an illusion, but there was no way it could be real. For a moment he could only stand there and stare. A vision of Axel had just thrown him off of this place, after all.

After a moment of stunned silence, Axel rolled his eyes. He held up a pair of wrapped packages and dangled them in the air, the way someone might lure a pet forward with a treat. "I have ice cream," Axel said in a mock sing-song tone.

Finally Roxas stepped forward, coming to sit on the ledge next to Axel. One of the plastic-wrapped items was pressed into his hand, and he gazed down at it, still in somewhat of a stupor. It was cold. "Sea-Salt Ice Cream," cheered the bright copy on the packaging.

Roxas just turned to stare at Axel, who gave him a withering look. "I know you've missed my beautiful face and all, but it's going to melt," he said, gesturing to the still-wrapped treat in Roxas's hand.

Nodding vaguely, Roxas unwrapped the ice cream, and took a lick. It was delicious and it tasted exactly the way he remembered. The taste somehow cleared his head. He closed his eyes, a thousand memories vying for his attention all at once.

"I'm dead, aren't I," he said finally.

"Sort of," Axel answered.

Roxas opened his eyes and gave the other a quizzical look. "I thought being dead was kind of an either-or thing," he deadpanned.

With his free hand, Axel reached around and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, you're not _actually_ dead yet, but...you will be, depending on what you decide."

"What I decide?"

"Turns out you've been poisoned. Pretty bad, too."

Roxas nodded slowly. He remembered pushing Sora out of the way, and being clawed instead. Chernabog must have poisoned him then...

"But you can beat the poison," Axel said. "I mean, you're strong enough to. It just depends on whether you want to or not."

"Um...I don't follow."

Axel took another lick of ice cream. "It's like this: you get to decide whether you want to live or die. If you wanna keep living, you head back there." He waved a hand over his shoulder, indicating 'there.' "If not, then..." Axel shrugged.

"Huh," Roxas frowned. He certainly hadn't been expecting this, but he was unperturbed. It wasn't any weirder than anything else he'd seen these last few days. "So...does that mean if I went back to the others, I'd get to keep this body?"

"Eh..." Axel looked uncomfortable. "That, I don't know."

That came as a surprise to Roxas. "You're telling me that after all this...Naminé and I still might just get...sent back to Kairi and Sora's hearts?"

"Hey, I wish I knew. It's not like I've got a crystal ball here or anything."

Roxas sighed. "I guess I figured it'd be something like...good job saving the worlds, have some hearts." If he decided to leave this place – the afterlife, or whatever it was – and go back to the others, there was still a chance he'd be banished back to Sora's heart. There was a chance it would all have been for nothing. He suddenly realized how high up they were on the clock tower, and it felt as though his stomach had dropped out.

"How long do I have to decide?" he asked Axel, suddenly overwhelmed.

"No rush," Axel answered easily. "Don't you wanna catch up or something? I kinda missed you," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Roxas turned to him, smiling, eager to talk about something else. "Yeah? That's cute, coming from the guy with no heart," he quipped.

Axel grinned back. "No, see, I've got me one of those, too. When I faded away...I kinda stuck around for a bit, until I got my heart back. Turns out the Heartless that stole my heart was hiding out in the City That Never Was. Sora got him. If I'd just stuck around a little longer...C'est la vie," he shrugged.

Roxas didn't reply at first; it felt as if all of the wind had been knocked from his lungs. Axel had sacrificed himself to get Sora to the World That Never Was. But he hadn't done it for Sora's sake – he'd done it for Roxas's. Axel had said as much, with his dying breath. Roxas had heard every word of it, from deep within Sora's heart.

"If it weren't for me," Roxas murmured, "you would've made it out okay. You would've had a normal life."

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, it would have been awesome," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "No home or family to go back to."

"You would've been alive."

"Living's not much fun when you have no one to share it with," Axel countered. "You would've been stuck in Sora's heart."

"I'm not worth it."

"Pretty sure that's not up to you to decide!" Axel shot back, a little annoyed with Roxas's insistence on moping about it. "I mean, yes, you and me were a pretty messed-up pair. I'm not trying to say we weren't. But...we were friends, right? Just because it was different from what most people would call friendship, doesn't mean it wasn't real, and it wasn't worth something. Doesn't mean you weren't worth fighting for!"

Roxas turned to face Axel, about to reply, but Axel cut him off. "Look, Roxas, I don't know what you've been telling yourself all this time, but nothing that ever happened to me was your fault. You did what you thought you had to do, just like I did what I thought I had to do."

Roxas was quiet for a moment. "So you don't hate me?"

Axel threw up his hands. He knew Roxas tended to be pretty broody, but he hadn't expected Roxas to act like this. "Of course I don't _hate_ you! I mean, sure, sometime I was mad as heck at you, sometimes I felt pretty lousy over you...but I never hated you."

Roxas swallowed the lump in his throat. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Axel ready to protest. "I don't care if you don't think I have anything to apologize for," he added. "I still wanted to say it."

Axel just gave him a crooked smile. "Better now?" he asked lightly.

"Yeah. I'm okay now," Roxas said. And for once, he meant it.

A comfortable silence settled over them as they at their ice cream. "So," Axel said finally. "What are you thinking? Stay or go?"

"If I go, the first thing I'm doing is heading to Twilight Town and buying all the ice cream they have," Roxas mumbled. He'd forgotten how much he loved that stuff.

"Good plan," Axel grinned.

But then Roxas grew thoughtful. "I dunno. I guess I'd feel bad if I stick around here and leave Naminé, since...she'd be the only ex-Nobody. But if me and Naminé get to keep these bodies, it's like we would be getting a second chance at life. It wouldn't be fair to you. Or any of the others."

"The others?" Axel repeated, incredulous. "You're really worried about what's fair to the rest of Organization XIII?"

Roxas shrugged. "They weren't _all_ bad...Demyx was okay," he pointed out.

"I guess so." Axel frowned. "You know what, though, it wouldn't be a second chance for you. It'd be your first chance."

"Huh?"

"Everybody in Organization XIII lived a normal life before becoming a Nobody. Well, relatively normal," Axel amended. "I'm pretty sure every member of Organization XIII was always kind of a freak, myself included."

Roxas had to chuckle at this.

"But you and Naminé were Nobodies first," Axel continued. "So you'd just be doing things in the opposite order. Nobodies first, then a normal life."

Roxas leaned back, considering this. "The opposite order..." he repeated. "Huh. I never thought about it like that."

"And that's why I was always the brains of this operation," Axel said smugly.

Roxas rolled his eyes good-naturedly, popping the ice cream back in his mouth. He knew he had a decision to make, but it was peaceful up there. He could get used to this – the sea-salt ice cream, the bantering with Axel, just like old times. If he stayed, he was sure he would feel guilty about leaving Sora behind, at least at first. Good-natured Sora, who was so quick to trust. Roxas thought briefly of their time in Agrabah, and how Sora's eagerness to help the witch Safi had almost gotten them into trouble.

Sora, who had tried to defend him to Yen Sid. Sora, who had tried so hard to be his friend, when Roxas had none.

Roxas leaned forward, suddenly uncomfortable. He had finished his ice cream, and he chewed thoughtfully on the wooden stick. Wasn't he in this situation, faced with this decision, because he had tried to protect Sora in the first place?

The last thing Roxas could remember was Sora, gripping his hand, pleading with him to stay.

"_There is a destiny for you, I know there is!"_

At once, Roxas knew what his decision had to be.

"I make my own destiny," he murmured.

"Hmm?" Axel asked lazily, but then he saw the serious expression on Roxas's face.

"I'm gonna tell you something I told Sora once," Roxas said finally. "For my entire...existence, people have been telling me who I am, and what I've got to do. But me...just Roxas, just plain old Roxas, I don't know who that is." He took a deep breath.

"I know that if I go back, they might just stick me inside Sora's heart again. But if not...then maybe I'll finally get the chance to find out who Roxas is. And I can't give that chance up for anything." He turned to face Axel. "Not even you."

Axel's expression was serious – until suddenly he sighed in exaggerated relief. "Good! For a second there, I thought I was going to have to do some serious convincing."

"You...did?"

"Roxas, I _want_ you to go...ride off into the sunset with Sora or something," he said, gesturing off to the sunset before them. "I want you to be happy."

Roxas couldn't answer for the lump in his throat. "I guess Sora's probably still freaking out," he said, once it had shrunk enough that he could speak. He got to his feet, and Axel followed suit. He looked up at the other, a sense of finality building in his chest.

"This is goodbye for real, isn't it?"

Axel smiled at the serious expression on Roxas's face. "Yeah, but you'll be okay. C'mon, you gotta learn to let stuff go." Jauntily, he stuck out a hand.

Roxas took a deep breath. Axel was right. Letting go, taking a leap of faith...He had to go back to the others, he had to believe that he would get to stay in this body, that he would get to live his own life.

They shook hands, and Roxas kept his hand in Axel's for what felt like a long time.

"Okay, okay," Axel said easily, pushing Roxas away. "You get back there. Go...do something awesome with your life," he said fondly. "And grow a few inches, will you?" he added quickly. "Drink some milk on the other side or something."

"H-Hey!" Roxas protested, maybe a little too loud, to make up for the fact that his eyes were welling up against his wishes. He turned back. "Do I just, um, go back the way I came?"

"Yep."

Roxas nodded vaguely, walking around to the side of the clock tower. "Hang on," Axel said suddenly, and Roxas turned.

"Um...tell Naminé I'm sorry I was an ass to her most of the time," Axel muttered.

Roxas just nodded, smiling, but somehow he wasn't ready to go just yet. "What are you going to do now?" he asked suddenly. "I...I want you to be happy too."

Axel looked off into the sunset. "I think...I'll go find my family."

It was strange to think of Axel having a family, but Roxas supposed he must have, before he was a Nobody. He realized with a pang that he'd thought of Axel as a friend all this time, and yet knew almost nothing about him. "Where were you from?" Roxas asked. "You know...before the Organization."

"Radiant Garden."

"What was it like there?"

Axel shrugged. "It was home."

_Home..._

The edges of Roxas's vision began to darken. Everything grew darker and darker until all he could see was Axel standing amidst the blackness. Vaguely Roxas thought that he was going home, too.

The next thing Roxas was aware of was that he was lying somewhere, and he was exhausted, as though he'd run a number of marathons in a row. All he could see was black, and then he realized it was because his eyes were closed. He considered opening them, but his lids felt so heavy, and it just didn't seem worth the effort right then. As Roxas became more aware of his surroundings, he realized someone was holding tight to his hand. But that didn't seem to matter either. All that mattered was how heavy his whole body felt, and how he would be content to drift in that warm blackness for ages.

But then Roxas realized he could hear someone crying.

He was so tired, but he supposed he should determine who was crying, and why. Experimentally, Roxas gave the hand holding his a squeeze. The crying stopped abruptly.

Roxas forced his heavy lids to open, and Sora's face, tear-streaked and shocked, slowly swam into focus. "Roxas?" he whispered.

"Mm," Roxas mumbled back.

"Y-You're..." Sora mopped at his face. He seemed to have trouble forming a coherent sentence. "H-How do you feel?"

"Okay," Roxas mumbled. "I'm okay." He tried to sit up, feeling as though he needed to explain to Sora what had just happened. "He said I could come back, that I didn't have to die."

Sora gripped his shoulders, gently pulling him the rest of the way into a sitting position. "What...Who said that?"

"Axel."

Sora didn't answer, eyebrows knit in confusion. "You're not gonna die on me now, are you?"

Roxas shook his head. "No dying."

"G-Good!" Sora burst out, pulling Roxas into an enthusiastic hug. "Why would you even take a hit like that for me in the first place?"

"'Cause we're friends, aren't we?" Roxas mumbled into Sora's shoulder, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world, reaching up and weakly returning the hug.

"Of course we are!" Sora exclaimed, pulling away and keeping his hands on Roxas's shoulder. "Of course we're friends, we've gotta...oh man, we've gotta get _home_!" He turned to the others; they all looked as shocked at Roxas's sudden recovery as Sora felt. "Riku, give me a hand!" Together, Sora and Riku got Roxas to his feet. Sora turned to Naminé.

"Take us home, Naminé."

The words seemed to shake her out of her shocked stupor. She could hardly believe or even begin to understand how Roxas had recovered so quickly from the state he had been in, but that didn't matter now. All that mattered was to finally get them out of this terrible place. She closed her eyes and held out her hand, picturing the palm trees and pristine beaches of Destiny Islands, but nothing happened. She turned to Sora and gave him a helpless shrug.

"Where...is it you need to go?"

It was the Shadow Enchantress who spoke. Sora turned to her; he'd completely forgotten about her in all the excitement. He frowned, still a little put out with her over her insistence that she could not help Roxas.

Naminé was apparently feeling the same way. "So you'll actually do something?" she said.

"Yes," was the even reply. "I will send you where you need to go." Despite her tone, everything about the enchantress's countenance screamed "guilty," she avoided making eye contact with any of them.

Sora sighed. If Naminé was having trouble opening a Corridor of Darkness, then it seemed they had little choice. "We'd like to go home," he said. "To Destiny Islands."

The Enchantress hesitated. "I cannot send you there. Not yet."

"W-Why not?" Sora asked in alarm.

"That world sustained the most damage from the shadows, and I shall need some time to repair it."

"What about our families?" Kairi exclaimed. "Are you telling us they were...damaged?"

"Destiny Islands, and all of its inhabitants, will be restored exactly as they were. I...will use my magic to correct the imbalance that occurred when I was overpowered."

"How long will it take to fix?" Kairi wanted to know.

"I would advise you to stay away for a week, to be certain. Where else could I send you?"

Sora frowned. "Radiant Garden, I guess," he said slowly, looking around at the others. "I don't think Merlin would mind if we hung around for a while."

The Enchantress nodded and fixed Naminé with a pointed look, holding out her hand. Naminé realized the Enchantress's borrowed staff lay at her feet and she bent down, taking it in her hands. A little reluctantly, Naminé returned it to its rightful owner. It was hard to say whether she was reluctant to give it up over what had just happened with Roxas, or for more selfish reasons. She had never before felt that she had any kind of power, and giving it up made her feel vulnerable.

"Thank you for keeping it safe," the Enchantress said, perhaps sensing Naminé's feelings, for she sounded truly grateful. She looked at the five of them, and her gaze fell on Roxas, still propped between Sora and Riku. "I am glad for your recovery," she said.

"Uh...thanks," Roxas answered, a little taken aback.

She nodded once in acknowledgment and the staff in her hands began to glow. The strange place where they had fought Chernabog began to dissolve and fade away, the tall, crooked buildings and blue cobblestone of Radiant Garden taking its place.

* * *

The peaceful (and boring, Yuffie would add) afternoon was about to take a turn for the unexpected. The doorbell rang and Yuffie, glad for something to do, leapt to her feet, bounded to the door, and flung it open. Her grin quickly faded into an expression of confusion as she took in the sight of the five of them crowded on the front steps.

"Um, hi, Yuffie," Sora said sheepishly. "Mind if we come in?"

Besides Sora, she recognized the silver-haired boy and the redhead as his friends Riku and Kairi. But Yuffie had never seen the blonde girl before. Though without a doubt, the strangest thing about the scene was the blond boy currently propped up between Sora and Riku. "Um...is he okay?" she asked, nodding toward the stranger.

"Er, yeah," Sora answered, with a sideways glance at Roxas. "Is Merlin around? We could use a hand..."

Yuffie nodded, taking a step back. "Mer-_lin_!" she shouted over her shoulder. From deep within the house there was a sudden clatter and the wizard emerged a moment later, flustered.

"Good heavens, child! What is-" He trailed off at the sight of Sora and his friends, squeezed together in the entryway of the house. He frowned, seeming to sense something Yuffie had not. "Sora, why don't you and I take Roxas upstairs," he said, waving him over.

"You...know who I am?" Roxas asked.

"Of course I do," Merlin said vaguely, leading the way upstairs. "Now then, what happened?"

"Um..." Sora and Roxas exchanged glances. "Well, we were fighting Chernabog, um, he's this big demon guy, he was the one messing around with the shadows, I guess you heard about that..." Sora began.

Merlin raised his eyebrows. "Chernabog, eh? Then what?"

"Uh, he tried to attack me, but hit Roxas instead. Naminé, she – turns out she can do magic really well, so she Cured him, and we all thought it was gonna be okay, but then...I guess whatever Chernabog did, he managed to poison Roxas, it looked really bad..." He trailed off, not entirely sure how it was that Roxas was, in fact, still breathing.

"I pretty much...died," Roxas filled in, somewhat awkwardly. Now that he was more alert, he realized how bizarre the whole thing sounded. "But I...someone told me I should go back."

"Indeed," Merlin murmured thoughtfully, waving the two into a spare bedroom at the end of the hall. Gently Sora set Roxas on the bed, who slumped back against the pillows. Alarmed, Sora gripped his shoulder.

"I'm fine," Roxas mumbled in chagrin through half-closed eyes. "Just tired."

"Understandable," Merlin said vaguely, peering at Roxas over the top of his spectacles. He seemed to be seeing something Sora could not.

Sora swallowed. "He's...gonna be okay, right?"

"Oh, certainly," Merlin answered at once. He glanced up at Sora, who looked somewhat unconvinced and anxious. Merlin's no-nonsense expression softened somewhat. "I mean it, Sora. With plenty of rest, he'll be better in no time.

"Roxas has a strong heart, just like yours."


	14. Answers

**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**

_Chapter 14: Answers_

_Notes: Just a short, wrap-up sort of chapter this time. Next is a brief epilogue to wrap this story up once and for all, and hopefully that will be up relatively soon! _

_

* * *

_

Sora awoke wrapped in an unfamiliar blanket, curled up on an unfamiliar sofa. He could hear quiet chatter from the next room, and the sounds of someone preparing breakfast. The smell of coffee wafted into the room and it seemed to prod Sora's senses awake. With a start he remembered he was in Radiant Garden, in Merlin's house, and that Roxas had been in dire straits the day before.

He remembered sitting on a chair by Roxas's side while the other slept, and he remembered Aerith putting a sympathetic hand on his shoulder and folding a cup of tea in his hands. He remembered night falling, and Riku venturing upstairs and coming to wordlessly stand beside Sora.

"I can't help feeling like this is all my fault," Sora had said finally. "If I'd just been watching more closely when we were fighting Chernabog...Roxas is like this because he saved me."

Riku didn't answer at first, just rested his hand atop Sora's head and mussed his hair, like when they were kids. "Roxas is gonna be fine," he said finally. "And you're exhausted."

Sora didn't even attempt to deny it. He let Riku steer him out of the room and downstairs to the parlor, where the two of them spent the night on the worn, albeit comfortable sofas.

Now, the other sofa was empty, save for the blanket folded neatly atop it. So Riku was already up, then.

Sora threw the blanket off of him and got to his feet, suddenly anxious. Quietly he made his way up the stairs to the spare bedroom. He gripped the doorknob and quietly, slowly, eased the door open. Roxas was curled up on the bed, just where Sora had left him. He was facing Sora, and his breathing was even and there was color back in his face. Sora breathed a sigh of relief and backed out the room. He hurried back downstairs to join the others; he was actually pretty hungry, when he thought about it.

* * *

Roxas slept most of that day, but he wasn't the only one exhausted. Days of fighting and few scattered moments of sleep here and there had taken its toll on all of them. Which was why everyone was so surprised when Kairi insisted on accompanying Aerith to the market.

Aerith hadn't been planning on shopping that morning, but the house needed more food if all five of them would be there for a week. "Aren't you tired?" she asked Kairi.

"Well, a little," Kairi admitted. "But...but it's the least I can do."

Aerith frowned. She and Yuffie had good-naturedly groused about all of the extra mouths to feed, but she thought it was clear that they were joking. "It's no trouble at all," she said slowly. "All of you are always welcome here for as long as you need to stay."

"Thank you," Kairi said. "But I'd really like to go."

"I'll go too," Naminé said quietly. Kairi looked truly troubled about something, and Naminé was still extremely grateful for Kairi's sympathetic ear when she explained what she had done in Castle Oblivion. Somehow Naminé felt that Kairi needed someone to listen to as well.

Aerith was bewildered, but there was no point in pursuing the matter any further. Not long after that, the three of them set off for the market. On the way they passed the town square, and the sight of the young flower patches filled Kairi with an inexplicable coldness.

"The flowers look nice," Naminé said as they passed.

"Thank you!" Aerith beamed. "They used to look much nicer, before... But we're all working very hard."

It was only when Aerith was catching up with the woman behind the produce cart that Naminé took Kairi aside. "What's wrong? You don't look very good."

Kairi swallowed. "Naminé...Do you have a weird feeling about this place? About Radiant Garden?"

Naminé shook her head, alarmed now. "No, why? Do you think we could be in danger here?"

"No," Kairi said vaguely. "It's not that at all. It's...almost the opposite, actually." She paused. "Naminé, how far back do your memories go? Do you, um, have any of mine?" She felt awkward and nosy asking it, as if she were asking a blind person how they had come to lose their sight.

"Only those that happened after I was created. When Sora used Riku's Keyblade to free your heart," she said. "Kairi...you've been acting strange since we got here. What's wrong?"

She turned away. "When we were fighting Chernabog, he showed each of us something awful, so that we'd give up, right? I saw these…ghosts, and the world where I lived before I ended up on Destiny Islands. At first I thought it was all made up, but...but it looked so much like Radiant Garden," she said, trailing off in a whisper.

Naminé's eyes widened. "Do you think you might be from this world?" she gasped.

"I...I don't know," Kairi said helplessly. "I might be."

"Well, that'd be great," Naminé said, a little confused. She expected Kairi to be excited at the thought of discovering her past.

"Great?" Kairi repeated, turning to Naminé. "What about my family? Did I live with my parents? What if I had brothers and sisters? They all might be dead, and I don't remember a thing about them." Sudden tears filled her eyes and she brushed them away in annoyance. She refused to fall apart over this.

Naminé took her hand. "Kairi," she said gently, "we've got to tell the boys about this."

Kairi squeezed Naminé's hand. "I can't," she sighed. "At least not right now, what with Sora so worried about Roxas and Riku so worried about Sora. Besides, I don't know if I'm ready to...to really try and figure this out." She smiled weakly. "Don't ask questions that you don't want to know the answer to, right?"

Naminé didn't answer at first. "Is there anything I can do?" she said finally.

Kairi smiled. "You listened," she said, as Aerith was coming over to them. "That's more than enough for now."

* * *

The next day was far easier. Roxas felt much better, and early afternoon found Sora sitting in the room with him, just talking. It was a warm, sunny day, and the breeze that floated in from the window overlooking the street lifted both of their spirits.

The wind carried a familiar trio of voices into the bedroom, and both Sora and Roxas froze in midsentence. Sora leapt out of his chair and hurtled over to the window, and his heart swelled at the sight of the three approaching the door. "Your Highness! Donald, Goofy, up here!" he shouted. The three looked up and saw him.

"Sora! Hey, Sora!"

It was as if all of his pent-up anxiousness over Roxas, all his tiredness, just flew out of him all at once. Sora, grinning from ear to ear, flew out of the spare bedroom and down the stairs, throwing open the front door and leaping at Donald and Goofy. The three of them tumbled out onto the street, nearly taking out Mickey as well.

Roxas got out of bed and made his way over to the window, watching Sora mock-wrestle his friends on the sidewalk. Passers-by glanced at them in amusement or thinly veiled annoyance. Roxas just shook his head at Sora's antics, but he was smiling too.

Once Sora had calmed down, all of twelve of them gathered in the parlor; even Roxas, who was admittedly growing tired of the spare bedroom. The house, which had been so unusually quiet the day before, was once again full of happy chaos. Even Kairi, still deeply conflicted over what to do about her past, felt her troubled mood lift.

"Well, Chernabog's good and gone, this time for sure," Mickey announced, once they had finally settled down.

"Good!" Sora declared. "But...when we were fighting, he said someone gave him the prophecy. And that's how he knew what to do."

Mickey nodded, frowning. "I figured something like that might have happened."

"Any idea who passed on the prophecy?" Riku wanted to know.

Mickey shook his head. "Yen Sid and I had an idea or two, but no proof."

Sora's eyes widened at the mention of the old sorcerer. "Oh yeah, Your Majesty, it...didn't really go that well," he said sheepishly. "When we went to see Yen Sid, I mean."

Mickey sighed a little. "I heard. He's a little...well, set in his ways."

"He started it," Sora mumbled somewhat childishly.

"All right, already, we get it," Roxas said mildly, realizing that he no longer cared what the old wizard thought of him.

Mickey looked at Roxas as if really seeing him for the first time. "Oh yeah!" he burst out. "How are you feeling, Roxas?"

"Not bad, thanks," he said slowly, suddenly aware that everyone was quiet, their eyes locked on him.

"So what actually happened to you back there?" Sora burst out finally.

"Yeah, we heard it was pretty bad," Goofy added, and there was a general murmur of agreement from the rest.

"Um, well...Chernabog kind of clawed me, which wasn't very pleasant, but Naminé healed it and I was fine," Roxas frowned. "And then all of a sudden I felt like I was on fire," he said, gesturing to the spot on his side where Chernabog had struck him. "And everything went black. When I came to, I was..." He trailed off, uncomfortable, suddenly realizing that everyone was staring at him with thinly veiled fascination.

"Then what happened?" Naminé asked, in the most neutral tone she could muster.

"Um, I was standing on the clock tower in Twilight Town. And Axel was there." This revelation was met with a stunned silence.

"Axel? From Organization XIII?" Donald asked.

"Was it is his...ghost or something?" Sora asked.

"Or something," Roxas said finally. "We were friends back then, you know. He told me that Chernabog poisoned me, but that I was strong enough to beat the poison if I wanted to. So we just...talked, and then I decided I wanted to go back." He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. It had been a profound moment, but it sounded a little silly put into words like that.

"Um...I guess I still don't get it," Sora said finally.

"Me neither," Kairi said, relieved that someone else had said it first. Naminé and Riku nodded as well.

"What don't you get?" Roxas asked.

"If you were stronger than Chernabog's poison, then why'd you almost die in the first place?" Sora asked.

That, Roxas didn't have an answer to. It wasn't as though he hadn't thought about it, either; after all, there had been plenty of time for thinking while he had laid upstairs resting. He gave Sora a helpless shrug, just as Merlin spoke up.

"Now, you're all looking at this wrong," the wizard announced. "Any…internal damage inflicted by Chernabog wasn't caused by the sort of poison you'd find in, say, a snake bite. Roxas was nearly killed by the very dark nature of Chernabog. Indeed, it takes a very confident, bright heart to fight off the sort of darkness Roxas must have been infected by."

Roxas leaned back in his chair, taking in this new information. "Yeah, I remember the Enchantress told us something like that," Sora was saying, but Roxas wasn't really paying attention. Roxas was again thinking of Axel, and of how difficult it had been to shake off that terrifying vision of Axel throwing him from the Twilight Town clock tower. Roxas' eyes widened as he realized he hadn't been able to shake it off until his conversation with the real Axel in the afterlife.

"_C'mon, you gotta learn to let stuff go,"_ he had told Roxas.

"That makes sense," Roxas finally said aloud. "There was this thing I needed to let go of before I was strong enough to fight that darkness…I guess," he added quickly. Next to him, Sora's face broke into a knowing smile.

"Oh, speaking of darkness!" Naminé said suddenly. She turned to King Mickey. "Your Majesty, I can't open up a Corridor of Darkness anymore. And it might be the same with Roxas. Why is that?"

He regarded her with surprise. "Of course you can't open one, you – Gosh! You mean you haven't realized it yet?"

Naminé exchanged glances with the others, but they seemed as clueless as she. "Realized what?"

"I bet you saw something you were afraid of there in the Domain of Shadows," was Mickey's somewhat cryptic reply. "What was it?"

Naminé was taken aback by the question. "I…" She blushed. "I saw Marluxia, but then Sora came. He was just a shadow, but he was trying to hurt Sora, so I told Sora about what really happened in Castle Oblivion."

Kairi, squeezed into a large armchair next to Naminé, turned and regarded her with surprise. Naminé only gave her a quick shrug in reply. There hadn't been time to tell anyone what had happened in the Domain of Shadows, and in light of Roxas' injuries, it had slipped her mind. She felt eyes on her and looked up to see Riku regarding her with a mixture of surprise, and was that pride in his eyes?

"Exactly!" Mickey said excitedly. "Naminé, the only people who can use Corridors of Darkness come from darkness or have darkness in their hearts, or aren't whole somehow. And that's not you or Roxas anymore!"

Naminé's eyes widened. "You mean…"

Mickey smiled widely and nodded. "Yep! Naminé, you faced what you were most afraid of to help Sora. And Roxas, you were willing to put your own life at risk for the life of a friend. You both have earned those hearts."

There was a brief silence. And then Sora exclaimed, "Are you serious!" and the whole room seemed to erupt. Kairi threw her arms around Naminé's shoulders and Roxas was having his hair ruffled.

In all the commotion Naminé placed her hand over her heart and felt it beating; every beat seemed to grow louder and louder, filling her from head to toe with light. Somehow she caught Roxas' eye.

"We're staying!" he mouthed to her, eyes wide in disbelief.

"I know!" she mouthed back, smiling widely.

* * *

The rest of the week passed without incident. Mickey and Merlin had both agreed that at the end of one week, Destiny Islands would surely be safe to return to, and Mickey had arranged for the five to be teleported there at the end of the week. The time passed peacefully – and quickly, in Naminé's case. She had asked Merlin to school her in the basics of magic, and he soon found that her friends had not exaggerated in their description of her natural gift for magic. Naminé glowed under the praise, and she was pleased at the thought that she would be able to truly help her friends, the next time they were confronted with some evil.

But the day before their allotted week was up, Sora felt incredibly antsy to get home. By early evening, everyone was getting a little tired of his anxious pacing. So Kairi seized him by the wrist and pulled him outside.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" he asked.

"Let's take a walk before you pace a hole in the floor," she retorted.

The sun was beginning to set over Radiant Garden, and the clouds were a smudgy haze of purples, oranges, and pinks. There was a warm breeze, and the people heading home looked contented. Sora surveyed this scene with a growing satisfaction. "I like seeing Radiant Garden this way," he said, arms folded behind his head. "Leon and everybody are doing a great job putting it all back together."

"I like it here too," Kairi said quietly, all thoughts of her unknown past coming back to her.

Sora unfolded his arms and turned to look at her. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Kairi shook her head. "No, nothing…I guess I'm just ready to go home."

Sora nodded, and the two lapsed into silence as they meandered through the market district. Kairi was deep in thought, remembering Naminé's advice when she had confessed her feelings about Radiant Garden. "Sora…" she began. "If you were in my position, would you be scared too?" She stood still.

"H-Huh?" Sora stopped as well, regarding Kairi with concern. "What position d'you mean?"

"If you didn't know where you were from. If you couldn't remember," she said quietly.

"Kairi…"

"I want to know, so much," she continued. "But I'm also afraid of what I might find."

"Yeah, I would be afraid, if it were me," Sora said carefully. He took her hand. "But…I'd also know that my friends would have my back no matter what I find."

Kairi smiled a bit. "Thanks, Sora." She began walking again, keeping Sora's hand in hers.

"Do you…want to start looking?" he asked. "For where you came from, I mean."

Kairi gazed around at the buildings that rose up on either side of them. What sort of secrets could these buildings hold, she wondered. "Not right now," she said. "But maybe soon."

Sora nodded. "Okay! Whenever you're ready. Just say the word and we'll go."

His eagerness was infectious, as always. "Sounds good," Kairi smiled. They continued on, taking in the peace of the moment. Sora's words had cheered Kairi much more than she had thought they would, and she felt calm. In the back of her mind, she still feared what she might find in her past, but she had decided she would take it one step at a time. And her friends would be with her the whole time. After all, they had already been through so much together.

When the sun began to fade, they turned and headed back for Merlin's house. "It'll be nice to be home tomorrow," Kairi sighed vaguely as they approached the house.

Sora nodded slowly. "Except…what are we gonna tell our parents about Naminé and Roxas?"

Kairi giggled. "We'll have to think of something good, huh?"

"Yeah," Sora grinned, reaching around to open the door for her. "I don't think that, 'they came out of our hearts' would go over very well!"


	15. None Goes His Way Alone

_**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**_

_Chapter 15: None Goes His Way Alone_

_Notes: …Wow. Eleven months and something like 80,000 words later, this story is done. It definitely took me way longer to complete than I had originally anticipated! This is the longest story I have ever written, and working on it was often both frustrating and exciting. But I'm really pleased to say that I was able to finish it, despite all of my doubts. Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers for your support! _

_I purposely left a few things open-ended, like Kairi's past, and how Chernabog got his hands on the prophecy in the first place, because I do plan to continue this story at some point. Probably not in such a lengthy format, though!_

_Without further ado, enjoy the last chapter of __**There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers**__, and thanks so much for reading! _

_

* * *

_

"Roxas! Roxas, hey, wake up!"

Roxas rolled over and swatted at the hand shaking his shoulder. He squinted up at Sora, who had so rudely pulled him out of sleep. "Could you just not be a morning person for once?" he mumbled.

"It's almost ten!" Sora rolled his eyes. "And I'm serious, you've gotta get up, we have a problem!"

"Okay, okay, you can at least quit shaking me," Roxas said, sitting up and pushing Sora's hand away He stifled a yawn; the spare mattress he had been sleeping on in Sora's room these last few weeks had never been quite so inviting. But he forced his sluggish brain to focus on Sora, who was crouched in front of him.

"So what's this problem?" Roxas asked.

"Well, I'm not sure, the King didn't have time to tell me a lot."

Roxas just stared, suddenly much more awake. "The King? King Mickey?"

Sora nodded emphatically. "Yeah, he said we gotta get to the train station right away." Roxas was already climbing out of bed, worried. This was sounding an awful lot like how their last escapade had started out.

"What about the others? Kairi, Riku, Naminé?" he asked, grabbing his clothes off the floor and ducking into the bathroom down the hall to change.

"Mickey says it's just us this time," Sora said through the closed door.

Roxas emerged a moment later and tossed his pajamas into Sora's room. "Really? Just us?"

"Really," Sora said quickly, heading downstairs and motioning for Roxas to follow.

They were almost to the door when a voice from the kitchen stopped them. "Where are you boys off to this morning?" Sora's mother stood there in the hallway, coffee in hand, regarding them with curiosity.

Roxas remained silent, content to let Sora take the lead on this one. "Just…out," Sora said casually. "We're probably taking the train downtown."

"You'll be back for dinner?" she asked.

Sora nodded. "We can do that," he said. At this, Roxas shot a look at him, unsure as to how Sora could sound confident about that, considering how long they had been away during their last adventure.

"Okay," she shrugged. "Have a good time."

"Bye, Mom!" Sora said, and then he was out the door.

"Bye," Roxas added, somewhat awkwardly, and he hurried after Sora, shutting the door behind him.

Sora's mother retreated to the kitchen where she'd left the morning's paper, but she ignored it and sunk into her chair, deep in thought. Sora was a good kid. That, she knew for sure. But she was equally sure there was much he was not telling her. When she voiced these concerns to her husband, he told her that he trusted Sora enough not to pry. She agreed, but the sudden appearance of his friend Roxas had brought all of her doubts and worries to the forefront of her mind.

It had been perhaps three weeks since Sora and Roxas had turned up on her doorstep. Sora had explained that Roxas was a friend without anywhere to go. "What about your parents, your family?" she had asked.

"I don't have any," was the mumbled reply.

She certainly liked Roxas well enough. He was a polite, albeit quiet boy, and it was clear he was uncomfortable accepting help from strangers. And she trusted Sora's judgment. There was just something about Roxas that made her pause. It wasn't a feeling of distrust or dislike. If she were honest with herself, it was more a feeling that Roxas belonged there, that she already knew him, even though she was certain she had never seen him before.

So many strange things had happened with Sora in the last year and a half or so. She sighed, eyeing her husband's empty chair. He was a good man and he loved his family, but he was too preoccupied with his work at sea to be aware of these things.

Her mind was made up. Sometime soon, when the time was right, she was going to sit Sora down and get some answers. Pleased with this decision, she set her coffee down and picked up the paper.

* * *

The rush of weekend shoppers had not yet descended up on the trains, and so Roxas and Sora ended up with a car all to themselves. They had been riding along for some time in silence; Roxas was worried about whatever Mickey needed their assistance with.

"You sure we'll be back by tonight?" Roxas asked, watching the ocean speed by them.

"Yep," Sora answered.

"How can you be so sure?"

Sora shrugged. "Well…I mean, I talked to the King, and this isn't as dangerous this time."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "But I thought he didn't get to tell you much. Do you even know where we're going?"

Sora was about to answer when the train entered a dark tunnel. Roxas looked out the window, unsettled; it was pitch black out there. They weren't in any ordinary tunnel. Idly Roxas wondered if some sort of magic had prevented any other passengers from entering this car, since he and Sora certainly would not be going anywhere that any of the other passengers were headed. Roxas was not prepared for the darkness to lift so suddenly, and he threw up a hand to shield his eyes as light streamed in through the window.

As his eyes adjusted to the light, Roxas stared out the window, trying to get a feel for where they were, and at first he thought he was seeing things. But he blinked a few times, and the familiar ocean, dyed orange by the brilliant sunset above them, remained. "This is Twilight Town," he said. He whirled to face Sora, worried now. What sort of problem was there in Twilight Town? But Sora didn't look concerned at all. In fact, the corners of his mouth were turned up and something in his eyes sparkled, as though he were biting back the urge to smile and not doing a very good job of it.

"Sora…what's going on?"

"Er, nothing's going on, actually. We're just here to visit," Sora said, his expression sheepish.

Roxas gave him a deadpan stare. "So we're not here to fix some kind of magic catastrophe."

"Um, nope."

"And all that stuff about you talking with the King is made up."

"Not quite!" Sora said. "I talked to him about this way back when we were still recovering in Radiant Garden. Traveling between worlds isn't done lightly, but we both agreed that there ought to be an exception."

"But…why?"

Sora shrugged. "I told you, didn't I? When we came here to see Yen Sid. I told you we should come back here and get ice cream."

"But…"

Now Sora looked worried. "You're not _too_ mad at me, aren't you? I mean, I figured you'd want to come back and visit…"

Roxas sighed. There was a part of him that still considered Twilight Town his hometown, and he would be lying if he had said he didn't want to visit, especially after all they had gone through to fight Chernabog and save it. "No, I guess I'm not mad. But why all the secrecy?"

"Because I knew you'd never admit that you wanted to come back, no matter how much you actually wanted to," Sora said, as the train pulled in to the station. He jumped to his feet and moved to exit the car. Roxas opened his mouth to call out after him, and issue some protest, but he realized the words would be empty. Sora was right about his desire to come back here; there was no point in pretending he wasn't.

* * *

Twilight Town hadn't changed at all; but then Roxas reminded himself that the Twilight Town he had known had existed only within a computer. He and Sora passed buildings he knew, though he had never actually been inside them. At one point he paused in front of the school that Roxas knew he could navigate easily, even though he had never actually set foot in it.

Roxas stood still for a long time, gazing down a winding street.

"What's down there?" Sora asked, coming to stand behind him.

"My…house. My _virtual_ house," he corrected himself.

Sora shifted his weight from foot to foot. He was starting to wonder if he had made a mistake in bringing Roxas here. But then Roxas turned to him abruptly.

"If you're not sick of trains, let's go to the beach," he said.

"The beach?"

"Yeah," Roxas nodded. "I mean, the only beach you know is Destiny Islands', right?" He was already turning back and heading for the train station.

"Uh, true…" Sora said, hurrying after him. Roxas led them through the winding, hilly back streets of Twilight Town and back toward the train station. Above them, the huge clock tower chimed the hour. Sora hung back a little, watching Roxas approach the ticket counter and order their tickets as easily as if he had done it a hundred times.

"This is weird," Roxas confessed finally, when they were settled on the local train that took Twilight Town's citizens to the beach.

"What's weird?"

"Just…being here," Roxas shrugged. Sora nodded, his expression guilty, and Roxas held out up his palms in protest. "Don't make that face! It's not your fault, I'm glad you set this whole thing up. It's only that…well, just now at the train station. I remember how to do things I've never really done before, thanks to the false memories DiZ gave me. It's just a weird feeling, to remember things that I know aren't real."

Sora shook his head firmly. "Just because those things happened in a computer doesn't mean they're not real. They're as real as you want them to be, Roxas."

Roxas leaned back in his seat, considering this. "Yeah, you're right."

Sora gave a cheeky grin. "Of course I am!" Before Roxas could protest, the rolling hills around them gave way to sand dunes. The train soon slowed to a stop, and the boys disembarked in Twilight Town's beach district.

Twilight Town was known for its perpetual and spectacular sunset, and at the beach, it wasn't hard to see why. The sky was a blur of purples, pale blues, and pinks, dotted with cotton candy clouds the color of ripe paopu fruit. All of these brilliant colors were reflected in the calm sea.

"Wow," Sora said finally, taking in the scenery. He yanked off his shoes and socks and ran to the surf, but the water was cold. Sora yelped in surprise and darted back to the sand.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "It's not as warm here as Destiny Islands."

"Yeah, I gathered," Sora said. Although, it was starting to get a little colder back home. Idly Sora thought soon it would be winter, and soon it would be Christmas, and he smiled at the thought of having Roxas and Naminé around for Christmas.

"What're you thinking about?"

"Nothing," Sora smiled. "Just that we ought to bring the others here sometime."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "I thought traveling between worlds was a big deal."

Sora just shrugged, carefree and unperturbed as always. "We'll figure something out."

As the afternoon progressed more people came to visit the beach. It was too cold to swim, but there were sweethearts strolling hand in hand, groups of giggling teenage girls, and young children tossing beach balls back and forth with each other while their harried parents took a moment to relax. Twilight Town, Sora was realizing, was hardly different from Destiny Islands.

As they made their way down the beach, Sora glanced at a clock near a gaudy gift shop. "Hey, we ought to start heading back soon if Mom wants us home for dinner."

Roxas glanced at the clock himself and had to concede that Sora was right. "Yeah," he said. "I wanted to get some sea-salt ice cream on the way back, anyway."

Sora's eyes widened. "Oh yeah! I completely forgot about that stuff! I've never tried it." He grabbed Roxas by the wrist and tugged him along.

"Hey, I can walk, you know," Roxas said, pulling his arm out of Sora's grasp. He shook his head. One minute, Sora might surprise him with some intuitive remark about the nature of reality, and then the next he would be all worked up over some ice cream.

Just then an errant beach ball skidded across the sand towards them. Quickly, Roxas put out a foot and brought it to a halt.

"Thanks!" called a male voice behind them. Roxas froze, recognizing the voice instantly. He turned, Sora following suit, and Hayner was running towards them, with Pence and Olette close behind.

Hayner stopped in front of them and looked from Roxas to Sora. "Hey, don't we know you?" he asked Sora.

"It's…Sora, right?" Olette was saying. Sora was nodding and making some comment about how it was nice to see the three again.

Roxas was dumbstruck; he had of course realized the three of them would be in Twilight Town, but he had decided from the minute the train first pulled into the Twilight Town station that he would not seek them out. Somehow it hadn't occurred to them that their paths might cross anyway.

It was Sora who jumped to the rescue. He grabbed Roxas' shoulder. "This is my friend Roxas!" he chirped. "He used to live in Twilight Town a long time ago, so we thought we'd visit, and see if anything's changed."

"Nah, nothing ever changes in a place like this," Hayner grinned, holding out a hand to Roxas. "I'm Hayner."

Roxas shook his hand, finally finding his voice. "Yeah, everything's pretty much the same," he smiled, and he meant it.

Olette stepped forward. "I'm Olette," she said. Behind her, Pence opened his mouth to speak, but she jumped in again before he had the chance. "Oh, and this is Pence," she said, ignorant of Pence's exasperated expression. "So you used to live around here, Roxas? Did we ever know you when we were kids?"

"Er, I don't think so," Roxas said, hoping they didn't ask him any more questions about his past. He shot Sora a helpless look.

"But I definitely recognize you," Pence said suddenly, surprising them all. He tapped his chin with a finger, eyes skyward, trying to remember. "Hey…" he began, turning to Roxas. "I remember, you were that kid in the black coat. I remember seeing you around a few times, a couple of years ago."

Now it was Sora's turn to look shocked. "R-Right…" Roxas said slowly, surprised that Pence remembered that.

"Oh yeah," Hayner said, arms crossed. "I think I remember that. Yeah, I got some pretty weird vibes from you – _ow!_"

Olette had elbowed him in the ribs. "Be nice!"

Roxas tried and failed to suppress a grin. "It's okay. I would've gotten weird vibes from me too, back then, if I were you."

Olette was thoughtful. "I don't know what it is, Roxas, but I feel like I used to know you. Really know you."

He could only stare at her. "You do?" he asked, his mouth suddenly dry. But that made no sense – the only times he had ever met the _real_ Hayner, Pence, and Olette, in person, was back when the Organization had sent him to missions in Twilight Town. And that had only been a few occasions.

"This is going to sound really cheesy, and awfully weird," she began, "but I feel like my heart knows you, and my head just needs to catch up."

"That _is_ really cheesy," Hayner drawled. "…But I kind of feel the same way," he added quickly.

"Me too!" Pence piped up. "Even though it doesn't really make any sense, does it?"

"It makes perfect sense," Sora said warmly, putting a hand on Roxas' shoulder. "Doesn't it, Roxas?"

Roxas had almost forgotten Sora was still there. He couldn't believe what he was hearing from the three – somehow they remembered – no, somehow they _knew_ him. Had he somehow – and he hardly dared to hope it was true – made a mark on their hearts in the virtual Twilight Town? "It does make sense," he said finally.

Sora frowned, turning to the three. "Only thing is, guys, we were kinda just leaving…"

"Oh, really?" Olette said, her face mirroring the disappointment in her voice.

Roxas nodded. "Or else we'll be inviting the wrath of his mom," he said, gesturing to Sora.

"Oh, I know how that goes, friend," Hayner said sympathetically. "Olette's dad thinks I'm a bad influence."

"'Cause you are a bad influence, you goof," Olette teased.

"All right, well, if you're leaving, at least promise you'll be back to visit again soon," Pence said.

"We promise!" Sora said immediately. Roxas could only nodded, amused at Sora's ever-present enthusiasm.

"Later, then," Hayner said, picking up his beach ball off the ground and tucking it under his arm.

Pence nodded in agreement. "Have a safe trip home."

Olette smiled and gave them a little wave. "See you!"

With that, Sora and Roxas turned and began making their way across the sand, back to the train station that would take them back to Twilight Town proper, and then back to Destiny Islands from there. Back home.

"How…could they possibly remember me?" Roxas muttered, more to himself than Sora.

Nevertheless, Sora drew an arm around Roxas' shoulders. "Because they wanted it to be real too, I guess," he said.

Sora gave a contented sigh. "Now we _really_ need to figure out how to come back."

* * *

Not long afterwards, Roxas and Sora sat in an empty train car, heading back to Destiny Islands. Roxas leaned back in his seat, contentedly licking a bar of sea-salt ice cream. Between the two were another four wrapped bars – one for Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Naminé. Sora picked one up and eyed it skeptically. Salt and ice cream just didn't go together in his mind. "Are you sure this stuff is good?"

"Best thing since sliced bread."

"All right…" Sora tore the wrapper off of his and tasted it. Roxas sat up straight, watching Sora expectantly. Sora scrunched up his nose. "This stuff is so weird!" he exclaimed, taking another taste. "No, wait…" He licked the bar again. "No, actually, it's pretty good," he said, nodding at the ice cream as though it were a new friend he was particularly pleased with.

Roxas leaned back in his seat and laughed.


End file.
